RJ And Martin
by Emersonian
Summary: She wanted to be free from her sheltered life, so she ran away from home and joined HenchCo's Y.E.A.R.N Program. He had grown up training to follow his family legacy. Both live in the same evil community, something seems to grow, yet they seem to be unaware that they were meant to be enemies and that a bigger threat is coming to destroy what they always dreamed to achieve...as one.
1. It's Only The Beginning

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 1: It's Only The Beginning

It was a very cold, fall evening in Middleton when they heard a knock on their door. Who on earth could be summoning them at this hour?

They opened the door. A young woman in her mid-twenties bearing a black cape coat over her ninja garbs stood before them. It didn't take them very long to recognize her. "Yori?"

"Stoppable-san. Kim Possible...Or should I say, Kim Stoppable?"

The couple in question was the famous former teen heroine Kim Possible and her loyal sidekick/boyfriend Ron Stoppable. Just seven years ago, they had saved the world from an alien invasion right in time for their high school graduation. Three years ago, they had graduated from their colleges and married in the following months, along with their official retirement of crime fighting. The only thing the public media revealed about their 'shocking retirement' and the cancelling of the Team Possible website was that they were now going to be very busy with their new careers, with Kim becoming an international diplomat and Ron being the new CEO of Bueno Nacho.

Of course, that wasn't the real truth...

"Is something wrong, Yori?" Ron let Yori in while Kim cautiously closed the door behind them. "Did Sensei send you?"

Yori shook her head very sadly. "Sensei is dead."

The young couple blinked, unable to register the words that the ninja woman had just told them. They were hoping that she was just messing with them, but evidently, her face of genuine sorrow told the opposite.

"How on earth can Sensei be dead?" Kim asked. "He was perfectly alive the last time Ron communicated with him."

"Actually, KP, the last time I communicated with Sensei was back at our high school graduation. You know, when he told me to unleash my Mystical Monkey Power." Ron pointed out.

"He was murdered," Yori said, "by Martin Fiske."

"Martin Fiske?" Kim's eyes widened. "That can't be right, Yori. Isn't Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch's son like... an eight-year-old child?"

"An eight-year-old child, as you say, who seemed to have been well-trained enough to use an alternative to save his parents from the Yono. With the blood of the enemy spilt over their stoned flesh, the Yono's curse has been nullified for good. Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch are back."

"Blood of the enemy..." Ron clenched his fists. "That's why the little monster killed Sensei." His eyes widened in sudden realization. "But that means he might go back after my sister!"  
"Fear not, Stoppable. Our ninjas have spied on the reunited family and have discovered that, based on what they just went through, they wish no further involvement with the Han."

The married couple sighed in relief.

"But as the new Sensei of Yamanouchi, I have begun to develop predicted possibilities. In other words, I came to warn you, as a close friend, to stay on guard. You, Stoppable-san, are the only individual besides the Fiskes to have Mystical Monkey Power and they are aware of that. But if they were to find out about..." She tensed.

Kim was the first to freak out and grab Ron by the shoulders. "Ron, she can't be!" She said in a panic.

Ron made a shushing finger gesture. "We don't know that, Kim, and we should probably not find out!"

"But imagine if they find out about her? There's a reason why no else aside from our family members and the midwife knows about her! The real reason why we quit crime fighting!"

"If I may ask," Yori interrupted gently. "May I see her?"

The couple looked at each other before giving a small nod to Yori. The adults walked up the flight of stairs and through the corridor until they reached a white door with painted red roses. Ron gently opened the door, leading to a dark nursery. With the white matted floor, their steps couldn't be heard. Kim silently rushed the window and closed it before covering it with the thick white butterfly patterned curtains while Ron led Yori to the main treasure of the nursery.

A white canopy bed covered with matching white pillows and bed sheets. And tucked inside those bed sheets was a small toddler sleeping very deeply while hugging a Pandaroo teddy bear close to her chest. The few rays of moonlight slipping from the curtains revealed the child's ginger blonde hair.

"Goodness." Yori smiled at the sight of the small girl sleeping into some sort of fantasy, unaware that she was being watched by her parents and their guest. "How old is she now?"

"She just turned two," Ron said with a smile. His fingers gently brushed their way through his daughter's hair, which was a perfect mixture of his wife's hair and his. Not too orange and not too blonde. Just perfect.

Yori smiled at the child. "She is a very special child. Take my advice, Stoppable-san, and keep her safe. Unless my and the former Sensei's presumptions are incorrect, she might bear a force of Mystical Monkey Power stronger than your own, which could act as a magnet to the others bearing the power..."

"We need to protect her at all costs," Kim cut in. "She must not know about who we were or connect with anyone outside our circle...even from the world, if we must."

"Kim, are you sure you're not going a little too overprotective?" Ron asked, looking at his paranoid wife with concern.

"Ron, do you want all of our former rogue gallery using our own daughter to get to us?"

Ron looked at his sleeping daughter. He sighed, knowing that he'd never forgive himself if something bad were to befall her. "What do you have in mind?"

"My mother's about to retire from her neurosurgeon career. With my father dead from that explosion at the space station and the tweebs almost done with college, she's planning on getting herself a penthouse to live the rest of her life in. I'll have her raise and homeschool our daughter..."

"So you want our daughter to grow up alone and naive in a penthouse with no outside contact?" Ron arched a disgusted eyebrow. "And worse, you want us out of her life."

Kim sighed as she rubbed her temples. "It's our only option." She looked at Yori. "You can understand this, right?"

"I stand neutral to your decisions of keeping her safe," Yori said. "But do understand that how you choose to protect her will affect the way she decides to make her own life. For now, I will assume that you have everything under control."

"Thank you, Yori." Kim nodded as they prepared to leave the nursery. "And thank you for the warning."

"One more thing," Yori said. "What is the child's name?"

"Ronilda," Ron said as he closed the door. "Her name is Ronilda Stoppable."

 _Fourteen years later_

It was a rainy morning in England. A bad weather to go outside, but a good day for most young people to sleep in their warm, fuzzy bed. This seemed to be the case for a young man who was still busy sleeping and snoring in his canopy bed while the electronic alarm clock resting by his nightstand showed 6am.

" _Good morning to all of you villains in England. It is now 6am in day number who cares how long you've been evil. Weather and temperature outside are rainy with a chance of springtime 60 degrees, which is good news for those who are still on spring break, so hey, why not enjoy this moment to sleep in this morning, dream happy world domination dreams..._ or GET UP AND EXCERCISE THOSE SIMIAN-BUILT MUSCLES! GET UP, MARTIN!"

Martin jumped out of his red monkey patterned bed sheets, fell through his canopy bed's red curtains, and landed right on his room's carpet, courtesy of Gilliard Moss blowing a foghorn at him. He got up and proceeded to do a series of push-ups using only his knuckles as leverage.

"I don't believe...I asked for a drill sergeant, Gilliard!" Martin muttered in between pumps to the seventeen-year-old fish-boy mutant standing before him.

"Less talk, more monkey business!" Gilliard shouted. "Now get those biceps of yours working!"

Minutes later, they were working on small jogging.

"Get the idol! Get the idol! Get the idol! DNAMY's after you!" Gilliard shouted, leading to the twenty-two-year-old Martin to do knuckle-walking push ups. "OK! Get the idol! Get the idol! Stoppable's here!" Martin tried to kick him, but Gilliard dodged it. "Ooh, I almost had you there!"

He then put on sock puppets looking like the retired Team Possible and moved around the bedroom, provoking Martin to run after him and try kicking and punching him with his Tai Shing Pek Kwar moves. "Come on, Martin! What do you do when the good guys show up? YOU SQUISH THEM!"

It them followed with Martin having to push his bed and six cement blocks on it all around while Gilliard sat on it. "I don't know, but I've been told," Gilliard said in a singsong tune in order to motivate Martin to push harder, "your efforts are getting cold!"

"They're not!"

"Are so!"

BAM! BAM!

They stopped the exercising when they heard a large thudding noise coming from the floor beneath them. "When you boys are done making such a racket in the morning, will you bring your butts downstairs for breakfast?" An exasperated voice called from below.

"Sorry, mother!" Martin shouted apologetically.

"Sorry, Mrs. Fiske," Gilliard shouted as well before speaking normally to Martin. "We'd better clean this."

"I have it covered." Martin waved his hands, creating ghostly red monkey auras to appear and move all the misplaced objects in his bedroom back in their original place in less than five seconds. "All done." He stretched his arms before heading towards the door leading to his own bathroom. The door closed and was followed by the sound of showering hot water. "Nothing like a good workout in the morning to remind you of how great it is to be evil. Thanks, Gilliard."

"Anytime." Gilliard jumped on a nearby armchair and pulled out a magazine entitled VILETEEN, a villainous teenager magazine, and read it while Martin took his shower. "By the way, have you got any ideas of what kind of evil heists you want to pull during the summer?"

"None, I must admit." The water was turned off and steam came out once the door was open. Martin came out all soaked and in a bathrobe before making his way to his closet. "I know we agreed that I would pull the greatest heist that any villain would ever commit this year like I usually do every year, but with my parents planning on going for a very long anniversary trip..."

"Seriously, how many _very long anniversary trips_ have your parents gone to ever since you un-Yono-fied? Ten years?" Gilliard barely looked up from his magazine.

"Actually, nine." Martin grabbed his traditional martial arts uniform that Espadrille from the Fashionistas had designed just for him even before he was born. "I personally understand that they both want to catch up with me and have some _very_ private times alone with each other, but I wished their anniversary trips didn't take that long." He went to a black-and-red Chinese monkey-themed folding screen and changed behind it. "I mean, they weren't even married in June!"

"Maybe that's your dad's way of saying 'Son, ya need to start marching like a lone wolf' and your mom's way of persuading you to get a girlfriend." Gilliard shut the magazine closed. "That reminds me, depending on whether I'm going with my dad to haunt Camp Wannaweep or if I'm going to be stuck with my mom in Minalshari, I don't know if I'll be able to join you on your heist this year."

Secured from any detection system from any global authority including Global Justice, Minalshari was the new hanging out place of villains, with shelters, its own evil shopping mall and restaurants, many convention centers and recreational areas for the bad guys and a highway that led to both Lake Nighthorse in Colorado and the infamous company HenchCo. Industries. It was literally like a underground city for underground crime and amusement, and Gilliard's mother lived in Minalshari since she worked at one of the departments in HenchCo.

"Gilliard, you can't do this to me!" Martin begged from behind the folding screen. "With my parents preparing for their anniversary trip, Bates going to see his relatives at his nephew's wedding, the monkey ninjas and the Homo Simius absent for things I dare not to say...What's the fun of pulling an evil heist without my best friend?"

"Mart, I'm touched that you like having an annoying fish like me on your heists," Gilliard said sincerely, "but even though we've been doing this for four years now, should you, I don't know, start organizing your alliance?"

Martin stepped out of his folding screen fully clothed and glared at Gilliard. "Excuse me?"

"I mean develop other evil alliances. Or if you're desperate, find yourself a girlfriend now that you're 22! Hasn't your mother begun this habit of constantly telling you that you should be married and bearing kids on your 24th year like she did? At least, you know, with someone close enough to your age and not with a twelve year gap like with your dad?"

"Ugh! Not this again!" Martin dropped himself on his bed and facepalmed himself. "I love my mother very much and I value my family traditions, but I'M NOT IN A RUSH TO FIND MYSELF A FEMALE PARTNER! Seriously! If I want to find one, that's my problem to solve! Sadly, aside from you, I don't do well on the teenage social level..."

"Then here's an idea!" Gilliard snapped his fingers. "Get out of your castle more often and go to places where you know you'll find teenage girls who just _love_ bad boys with pockets full of cash!"

BAM! BAM!

"Will you boys hurry up?" Martin's mother shouted from downstairs. "The pancakes are getting cold!"

"COMING!" The boys shouted and raced their way out of the room.


	2. Answer The Application

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 2: Answer The Application

By the time Gilliard and Martin went down for breakfast back in England, it was midnight back in Middleton. Most people would be sleeping under their covers and dreaming happy fantasies in their normal homes, and those who lived in penthouses downtown could either party or admire the starry night.

Ronilda did none of the above.

Among the checklist she currently had, she lived in a penthouse, precisely at the very top floor of a seventy-foot-tall building, which was the only thing checked. No parties, no school, no visiting relatives, and to make things worse, she had never stepped our of the apartment once. Her grandmother wouldn't let her because she had promised Ronilda's permanently absent parents that she would keep Ronilda safe no matter what.

Honestly, what kind of teenager has a former neurosurgeon for a grandmother that would agree to confining her in an apartment with hardly any contacts? If that wasn't awful enough, what kind of teenager never learns what her parents' names were and what profession they do?

Frankly, she could care less about meeting them. As she secretly flipped through her pile of magazines and read with a flashlight in the middle of the night, Ronilda could only feel one desire.

Getting out.

Live her own life.

Explore the world.

Find her perfect match.

Just like how every article in each of her magazines described. Sure, she had a great view of Middleton from where she was living, but everyone knows that a normal teen has to travel outside of town at least _once_ in her life.

 **The wonders of the Himalayas and the untold stories of how one man braved all odds in order to prove he could climb it in one week.** After reading several times the tantalizing story, she grabbed a pair of scissors and cut out the magazine's picture of the man standing on the mountain with an awesome view of the landscape. How she envied him.

 **Big Ben, world's biggest clock.** The British must be so lucky to be able to have such a marvel in their city. As she cut out the picture of Big Ben, Ronilda took a longer look at it. Out of all the landmark pictures she had cut out from all the magazines she read throughout her life, she kept the biggest number of Big Ben pictures. If she could just _for once_ leave the barriers of her home and get one chance in a life to go up the giant clock and stand on its roof in order to admire the city of London at night, she would be content.

She sighed as she continued to flip and cut through her magazines. "Another Hollywood couple getting hitched, another political debate between countries, another amazing concert...and another day of isolation." She dropped herself on her bed, eventually falling asleep.

 _A good six hours later_

She rinsed her face off once she stepped out of her warm shower. Once again, she had a face-to-face with her own reflection. It was the same everyday, and despite the fact that there was only one more month until her sixteenth birthday, she looked very much the same despite how many years have passed. The sheltered life had kept her white skin plain and fresh from any tan. Not one sight of a pimple or scar was seen. Since her grandmother was beyond overprotective, Ronilda never stepped outside her apartment for even a haircut appointment nor did the old woman hire a professional to come over. Instead, the waist-long gingery blonde hair was trimmed and straightened at home, which made Ronilda look like a framed painting of depression that got worse once she put on a white blouse and matching white skirt, the only color she was raised to wear.

"It's not like I'm going to have the paparazzi chasing after me," she mumbled to herself as she walked out of the bathroom and into the Spartan kitchen, where she found a small note tapped to a plate full of cooked blueberry pancakes. "'Gone to play bingo with one of my old friends. Door is locked from outside, as usual. Do not try to open it, even if the mailman comes. I'll be back at 6pm. Love, Grandma.' Typical."

Most people would be concerned about keeping someone out of their apartment, but Ronilda's guardian was more concerned about keeping her caged in that she placed a locking system outside their front door so that only Ronilda's grandmother could open. That's why it wasn't a surprise if Ronilda spent most of her days alone in her 'home' while her grandfather enjoyed the golden years.

The only thing that Ronilda was allowed to touch on the door was the mail slot, where the envelopes and packages were slipped through. For her, just seeing all her daily magazines coming from the outside world through the mail slot tortured her. While she did enjoy reading the magazines she got, she dreamed more to see what was beyond her door and outside her apartment to discover her real purpose in life. Unfortunately, even if she wanted to, the mail slot was only big enough to slide in a 12 by 12 inch maximum and not a girl measuring 4 feet tall and weighing 127 pounds.

She made herself a glass of orange juice and stormed off to the living room with her plate of pancakes. Next thing she new, she did the usual first activity of her morning routines whenever her grandmother left for bingo: eating her breakfast on the couch while flipping through every single channel on TV with boredom.

"Oh, you the hell am I kidding?" She angrily threw her remote at the screen, causing the images of the screens to blur like horrible color effects in a music video. Ronilda sat up straight, fearing that she accidently destroyed the TV until it suddenly cleared up and turned onto a channel.

' _This is the HenchCo Channel, coming to you live from HenchCo Industries, where bad just gets even better!_ '

"Huh, that's new." Ronilda picked up the remote and increased the volume to listen to that new channel.

' _If you are watching this, teenagers from all over the globe, it can only mean one thing: you wish more in your lives. School is just wrong, nobody seems to understand you, maybe your parents are annoying, or you want better meaning in life._ '

"YES! Better meaning in life, that's me!" Ronilda exclaimed, her eyes widening.

' _Well here, at HenchCo Industries, we offer for you aspiring teens the Younger Evil and Real Nuisances Program, or as we like to call it, the Y.E.A.R.N Program.'_

"What a coincidence," Ronilda remarked. "I am _yearning_ for something better in my life." She continued to watch the channel, which started to show images of teenagers of all ages bearing purple-and-black jumpsuits and blue pins labeled HENCHCO Y.E.A.R.N. In each image, they were depicted going through physical boot camp, academic classes, and heck, going to what looks like an evil version of a mall.

' _At Y.E.A.R.N, we help teenagers like you prepare to become fully devoted villains in just four steps. Step One, you train with us until Step 2, a professional villain offers to train you as his or her apprentice, then Step 3, you become their paid, full-time sidekick, until finally Step 4, you are a fully-prepared, independent, and professional criminals dedicated to evil deeds like global domination, revenge-seeking, or other evil deeds where HenchCo Industries will be there to watch your backs. Plus, aside from becoming a criminal, you get to meet your future henchmen, your future sidekicks and partner-in-crime, or even your future evil soulmate._

' _So teens, if you are interested in a life of villainy and want to train under the tutelage of HenchCo Industries, just fill up this questionnaire as soon as you can, crumble it in a ball, put it in a plastic bag, and flush it down a toilet. Expect an answer somewhere before 4pm. Trust us, this will change your life for the better.'_

Then, just like that, the DVD player connected to the TV printed a single piece of paper as if it were a printer. Ronilda hurried and grabbed the paper, which instantly led to the HenchCo Channel disappearing and replacing it with the sports channel.

She read the application's title. "'HenchCo's Younger Evil and Real Nuisances (Y.E.A.R.N) Program.'"

Was it worth the shot of desperation? True, robbing banks to conquering the world sounded like a bad thing, especially when emphasized in movies, and deep down, Ronilda wasn't sure if she was a villain. But what other options were out there? It's not like she was planning to waste her life in a seventy-foot-tall building's penthouse waiting for some guy to break her out of her home and whisk her away into a bright future like in the fairytales. In a month, she would be sixteen. She couldn't wait forever.

 _Trust us, this will change your life forever._

The words echoed in her mind.

"I suppose it's worth a shot." She turned off the TV, hurried through her meal, and quickly threw the dishes in the dishwasher before running back to her room to grab a pen.

 _Two hours later, back in England_

"OOMPH!"

"Ha! Knock over!"

Two hours had passed since lunch and Martin had been training in Tai Shing Pek Kwar with his father. To be fair, Martin had the physical advantage. Being transformed into stone did have some side effects on Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch once their son removed them from their state as Yono hosts. Seven years of stone could weaken by a percent the muscular structure, so once they were freed, despite now looking respectively like a fifty-one-year-old man and a thirty-nine-year-old woman, their bodies were weakening like a normal one would once you reached their actual ages (fifty-eight and forty-six). They could still do some Monkey Kung Fu and were able to teach everything to their son to the point that he practiced the techniques with perfection, but they limited their skills to within the castle. Which only meant two things.

Most of their dirty work was now to be done by the monkey ninjas or the Homo Simius.

Martin was now their only hope to conquer the world through monkey power.

"You're improving," Monkey Fist commented while his son helped him get up.

"Thank you, father." Martin nodded and helped his aging father climb up the stairs leading out of their dojo to their castle's living room. His mother, the Simian Witch, was drinking another sip of Earl Grey. For some reason -and Gilliard pointed it out to Martin once, the sorceress who sired him had more headaches while her husband had more back issues once the two of them spent the last fourteen years 'un-Yono-fied', as the son of Gill liked to dub the seen years of misery in the Fiske family.

"How are you feeling, mother?" Martin asked his mother while he helped his father sit down on the armchair facing the one the Simian Witch sat on.

"Cranky," she said bluntly. Back when he was still a child training in order to save them, Martin had always kept a picture of his parents and himself as an infant in his mother's family heirloom brooch that he converted into a locket. Whenever he opened it and looked at the picture in it, he saw a young evil couple with their baby looking at the camera as if their lives of villainy were idyllic. But ever since the Yono and Han mistake, they no longer looked very much like the couple in the picture. Sure, they still loved each other and their son dearly, but they were now turning into a middle-aged couple with hair-turning-gray and a bad habit of throwing a tantrum whenever someone dared to mention the Yono and Han mistake.

Just feeling the weight of his locket hanging from his neck and hidden beneath his martial arts uniform reminded Martin of the weight he had to carry around him.

"Sure thing, mom." Gilliard came into the living room, talking on his cell phone. "Well, I'll let your know I said hi. OK, good luck." He turned off his phone and raised his arms in exasperation. "Well, looks like my chances of spending the summer with my mother in Minalshari are going up to 60%!"

"I thought you liked the Minalshari." The Simian Witch raised an eyebrow as she continued to drink her tea.

"Oh, it's not like that Mrs. Fiske." Gilliard walked over and leaned by the burning fireplace. "Personally, I really like going to Minalshari, especially to go check out the May Monster Truck Mayhem, but my mom's way of translating of summer vacation with her is by throwing me a Benjamin Franklin bill and telling me to scram. Seriously, there's a good reason why I prefer trolling around here in the margins."

"Let me guess." Martin poured himself a cup of tea once he got his mother's permission. "We're a walking monkey circus?"

"Nah, you guys are just more fun." Gilliard smirked and leaned forward. "I mean, we got the mid-age crisis suffering mother, her henpecked husband, their brooding son with an F in social skills, the butler who is vaguely around, the cute, but not so evil minions, and then we have the stalkers who come here every..."

"DON'T!" Monkey Fist and Martin begged in unison, making the Simian Witch smirked at her son and husband's shared disgust for two peculiar stalkers.

"Speaking of cranky mothers, mine was particularly grumpy on the phone."

"Trouble at HenchCo?" The Simian Witch asked.

"Yeah. As part of her job of being a HenchCo secretary in charge of selecting the Y.E.A.R.N Program applications, she had to deal with one today..."

"Let me guess. Some teen bragged that he had superhuman strength and couldn't submit a video proof of it in his application?" The sorceress chuckled before rolling her eyes. "Believe me, your father told me the stories of how there were always phonies trying to infiltrate Y.E.A.R.N..."

"Like that story Gill told once?" Martin asked. "The one who claimed to be a contortionist but couldn't even dislocate his own arm when he had to give Jack Hench a live performance?"

"Exactly!"

"Actually..." Gilliard made the time-out hand gesture. "When I said my mom only had to deal with one application today, I meant as in it was the _only_ application she got today."

This shocked the villains to the point that Martin, who usually used sophisticated etiquette manners, spit tea out of his mouth in shock.

"Only _one_ application?" Monkey Fist didn't want to believe it. "I thought HenchCo's Y.E.A.R.N Program was an effective piece of work back when your father was in Y.E.A.R.N!"

"Yeah, it _was_ last decade or so!" Gilliard sat on the nearest available footstool. "But then ever since the thwarted alien invasion was followed by Team Possible's sudden mysterious retirement, global authorities just don't take us Earth-based villains seriously anymore. Instead about leading a manhunt for one guy who breaks into a bank or kidnaps some sort of scientist, they're more focused on keeping their eyes on space stations full of telescopes that can help them figure out how many damn light years we have until we get invaded again. Villains are getting bored, and aside from those who have kids of their own to follow in their footsteps, the number of teens out there interested in joining Y.E.A.R.N is decreasing. Even back when I was training there, there were barely above ten new initiates, and now that Jack Hench has tried to launch the secret HenchCo Channel in order to catch the attention of any possible delinquents, he finally gets _one_ application."

"When did he launch the channel?" Martin asked.

"Just last February. And we're still in April. At least with _your_ heists, we get some action that leads to the authorities posting wanted ads all over the globe. Excluding the unauthentic possibilities of a new invasion from green people, you sir are the Earth's biggest threat!"

Martin put a flattered monkey hand on his chest, pretending to be blushing from the comment.

"So who's the delinquent who sent your mother the application?" The Simian Witch asked in curiosity.

"It's not even a delinquent." Gilliard scoffed. "It's just some naive girl who spent her entire life by not even stepping outside grandmother's house. That kid will probably not last a day at Y.E.A.R.N, but my mom still had to send her a package telling her how to get to HenchCo so that Jack Hench can interview her...if she can even make it there."

It was Martin's turn to scoff as well. "This is too easy, even for me. I mean, what can this _one_ girl do to prove that she can be a criminal?"

 _Later, in the night of Middleton_

Ronilda opened her window and gulped when she looked down at the seventy-foot-tall wall shrinking downward to the point that even the street looked like a miniscule ant. The wind was whistling so loudly from where she was standing. Not one balcony was in sight on this giant structure made of metal and glass.

At least nobody would see a ginger blonde teenager taking the first risk in her life.

"Oh, boy," she muttered.

She wasn't going to lie to herself. Receiving the package from HenchCo just two hours after she had flushed her application in the toilet was like a miracle for her.

"' _Dear Applicant,_ '" the letter had said since Ronilda never mentioned her name. "' _We are pleased to inform you that your application has been received and accepted by none other than HenchCo Industries. Your step into a criminal future is only beginning, but you need to show up as soon as you can._

"' _In this package, you will find a sixty-foot-long cord (I'm afraid we have none that were seventy feet long), a map, and an envelope containing your admission ticket to Y.E.A.R.N and $200 in American currency. Use the cord to escape your apartment. Once you've done that, you will use the map to follow its directions and it will lead you to an area outside of Middleton. Once there, you will wait until a black SUV drives by with a man in a purple uniform. Present him with the ticket and he'll drive you straight to Y.E.A.R.N. The money must only be used for necessity._

"' _I will be the one to welcome you at Y.E.A.R.N should you be willing to face the possibility of falling to your death. We thank you once again for choosing to collaborate with us. Sincerely, Secretary Magali._ '"

Ronilda personally thought that this Secretary Magali was one of those people with a terrible sense of humor, but if going to Y.E.A.R.N meant she had to jump down a building, then that's what she would do.

Naturally, she didn't tell her grandmother that she was planning on running away to join an evil community when the latter came back just in time for dinner, but as soon as the old woman went to take her shower, Ronilda snuck back in the kitchen to steal a bag of baby carrots, a bottle of water, and a cutting knife, which she all brought back to her room and stuffed it in a pillowcase that she used to carry these items along with a toiletry bag, a pencil case and her scrapbook. She then hid the getaway stuff under the bed and pretended to fall asleep once her grandmother kissed her goodnight, only to wait until the old woman had gone to bed at 10pm to get back up, put cleaner clothes on, and opened the window.

Ronilda looked left and right, hoping to find any hints as to how on earth she could use a sixty-foot-long cord to go down a seventy-foot-high building. Her eyes finally spotted a familiar pipe sticking out of the wall and bending upward. This led to a memory of her pulling quite a nasty near heart attack accident for her grandmother. When Ronilda was nine, she had opened the window and tried to use the pipe for when she pretended her Britina doll and Oh Boyz action figure were Jane and Tarzan. The ribbon she had used to act as a vine for the dolls broke, leading to the dolls falling straight down to earth and a bunch of reporters wondering if these dolls came from outer space. Her grandmother locked her up in her room while she threatened to sue the reporters if this story ever went in the papers and she threatened Ronilda to glue the window shut with Superglue if she ever pulled a stunt like that.

Based on what she had seen in documentaries, she wrapped one end of the rope around her waist and tied it into a double knot. She then lassoed the other end to the pipe, which took her some difficulty to make a similar knot without falling to her death. Once the rope was secured, she grabbed her pillowcase bag and looked one last time at her room.

She was bound to never see it as well as the rest of her apartment or her grandmother.

"OK," Ronilda took a series of deep breaths. She held onto her bag as if it were a teddy bear while she slowly tried to sit on the windowsill. It was still new to her, daring to escape home while at the same time feeling nothing supporting her feet. "I can do this. I can..." She gulped. "Jump down a seventy-foot-high..."

She didn't think that, with all her fidgeting, she'd finally slip off the windowsill. Ronilda hugged her bag tightly against her as she screamed while her body fell down. The wind whistling got louder and the city buildings, which she once found barely bigger than an ant, where now increasing in height. She stopped screaming to see a few cars driving through a nearby street and that she was about to land straight into an alley.

Fortunately, the rope clung onto the pipe, leaving her to dangle fifteen feet above a dumpster.

"I really can't believe I'm doing this." She searched through her bag and pulled out the cutting knife, which she used to saw through the rope's thread. It finally cut in two and sent the young girl falling into a trash bag, making her experience the first time she ever got exposed to the horrors of the disgusting scent of unused car oil, spoiled produce, and cat urine. She struggled to get out of the dumpster and dropped on the dirty ground, inhaling so many times that she lost count.

"I can't believe I did it..." She exclaimed. "I'm OUTSIDE! I JUST RAN AWAY FROM HOME!"


	3. Getting to HenchCo

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 3: Getting to HenchCo

It took a while for Ronilda to get back on her feet. After such a long chute, her legs did feel weak from experiencing their first actual outdoor jump, so when she tried to stand up, her legs wobbled and collapsed. Finally, third time was the charm, she was able to stand up. She was standing in the middle of an alley for the very first time in her life.

Honking was heard from the busy street full of light and people who were crazy enough to go out this late. Ronilda prepared to walk her way towards the street and use her map to locate the area where she was supposed to meet up with the driver from HenchCo until the abandoned lid of a trash can caught her attention. Despite its old rusty condition, it showed her a reflection she had. Right now she looked like a girl wearing white clothes and sneakers, the whole lot covered by brown stains from her dumpster landing, and her hair was horribly messy from both the fall and the landing.

That's when another fact of reality hit her. Eventually, once her grandmother would wake up in the morning and find Ronilda's room empty, the window open, and the rope dangling from the pipe, there was a good chance that she'd decide to reveal her granddaughter's existence to the world by calling the authorities. In the movies and news report, whenever a child went missing, the worried guardian would always post some sort of wanted ad with a picture of the child and a large amount of money that would motivate others into locating the rogue child.

Ronilda looked at her reflection once again. It imitated her gesture of touching her long gingery blonde hair. "I'm sorry," she told the reflection. She searched through her bag and picked up her pencil case, where she found her pair of scissors. She held all her hair in one hand, which touched the area right below her shoulders, and took a large inhale.

Five minutes later, she walked out of the alley and into the busy street, leaving behind a large mass of cut hair locks and ripped white sleeves in the dark. Once on the street, she pulled out the map from HenchCo. "'Go all the way down Main Street until you reach Constitution Bridge'," she read. "'Cross the bridge and wait right in front of Middleton Motor Lodge for the black SUV.'" She looked at the map and then at the nearest street sign. "George Boulevard. At this rate, I'll never make it."

An old lady came out of the nearest store. It was worth a shot to ask. "Uh, excuse me, ma'am?" She walked over to the old lady.

"Goodness, child!" The woman pinched her nose. "When was the last time you took a bath?"

"An hour before I got bullied in an alley," Ronilda lied. Wow. She never thought that lying to an elder other than her grandmother was so easy. "I need to go to Constitution Bridge. The map I have here says that I need to go all the way down Main Street and let's just say this is actually my first time walking outside by myself."

"Oh, you poor thing." The old woman said. "Luckily for you, I actually live in the neighborhood where Constitution Bridge is located. I can drive you there. Plus I still have some of my daughter's old clothes and a few wipe towels. That way you won't be so dirty when you get to your destination and you'll only have to worry about taking a shower."

"Thank you, ma'am!" Ronilda nodded happily. "I'm really grateful."

 _Ten minutes_

OK, so technically she was only grateful at 50%.

Ronilda should have suspected that the nice old lady who willingly gave her spare clothes and a drive to Constitution Bridge would turn out to be the kind of lady who drove a micro car from the UK and drove around in her car with the company of the three modern Persian cats, who seemed to share Ronilda's sudden dislike of small cramped cars and decided to express their crabby feelings by scratching her on the face and constantly making noises during the entire ride.

The good side, however, was that not only was she able to clean herself with the wipes, sadly use the woman's cat brush to comb her hair, and fortunately be able to wear the old lady's daughter's black peasant blouse and blue jeans, but she at least got to see the city from the ground level as they drove through the streets full of shops, restaurants, and other fun places where she watched people go in and out, spend time together...Basically, seeing everything that she had been denied for now fourteen years. Now that she was no longer confined, she was excited to experience the things she missed.

They finally reached the Constitutional Bridge. Based on what Ronilda had read in history books, this was the only bridge in Middleton to be made entirely out of stone and wood since colonial days. Because the bridge played an essential role in the city's historical culture, the law forbids anyone to destroy or renovate the bridge in any way that wasn't 19th century, which is why it is only used for pedestrian or bike transportation.

"There you go, sweetheart." The lady stopped by the bridge. "Have a safe journey. And next time, make sure to tell your parents and beau that it's not safe for such a nice girl like yourself to be walking alone in an alley."

"I'll let them know." Ronilda mentally scoffed at the idea of her parents even caring if she got mugged if they were to exist at all...as of the idea of a beau... Not quite her current problem, but it would be nice if she did end up having one.

The old lady instantly drove off, leaving Ronilda to face the bridge that led straight to a trail slithering through the woods and into a distant light, which is where she assumed the Middleton Motor Lodge was located. She took a deep breath and walked her way. The earthy ground made grind- like noises as her foot moved on it. Once she crossed the bridge, Ronilda looked one last time at the city of Middleton before it faded away once she took the trail into the woods. From where she stood, the only tallest building in the city, the one place she knew through her whole life, was barely thinner than a sewing needle.

A smile came to her face as she walked through the trail. The smell of fresh pine and grass tickled her nostrils and sent a series of shivers. Sure, Ronilda was used to her grandmother bringing over bouquets and potted plants to decorate the apartment, but the outside world felt like one giant shop of exotic perfumes. Since it was still springtime, some of the trees in the woods were blooming a range of white and pink flowers. Ronilda couldn't resist picking up a few twigs and leaves and shoving them into her bag along the way.

After a good five minutes of walking, the woods cleared up into a driveway leading to the Middleton Motor Lodge, which looked exactly like it always appeared on TV. Much to Ronilda's surprise, a black SUV was parked by the driveway, and leaning by the driver's door was a man in a purple uniform and black straps. He wore dark shades despite being late in the night.

"Must be the driver sent by HenchCo," Ronilda said to herself. She pulled out the ticket she had received and walked over to the driver. "Hi."

"Are you the girl who just jumped out of a building?" He asked in a flat, yet professional manner.

"Yes. The girl who just jumped out of a building," Ronilda said, feeling uncomfortable about the fact that the first impression she managed to get from HenchCo was that she jumped from a building. She showed him the ticket. "I have this."

"I'll take that while you sign this paper." He pulled out a clipboard and pen that he exchanged for a ticket. "And I suggest you think straight for the information you put in there."

"Why?"

"Because as soon as you step inside that car, you'll be taken to HenchCo. You're leaving behind your old life and identity as a nobody in order to become a new and evil somebody. So if I were you, I'd think twice before I write down my name."

 _He's got a point_ , Ronilda thought. If she put her full name on the paper, then she could get unwanted attention. Or worse, it could be used to track her down and send her back home.

 _Think, Ronilda. What is your new name_?

She tried to think of any idea until she had an old memory of her thirteenth birthday, where, for once in her life, she learned one fact about her parents.

' _Seriously, Grandma?_ ' Ronilda had been annoyed by the story of how her parents named her. ' _My parents couldn't think of something better than my name? I sound like a witch from the 18th century!_ '

' _Well, they wanted to give you an original name_ ,' her grandmother had said. ' _Besides, it's a whole lot more creative than common names like Alice or Stacy._ '

' _Who calls their kid the female version of their dad's name?'_ Ronilda had scoffed. ' _Ronilda, daughter of a Ronald. Why not make my life even more miserable by calling me Ron Junior?_ '

The old memory was bitter enough for Ronilda to realize that she would no longer have to live under her old cage and name. At least now, she could have something close to a normal life. In the evil way, that is. She filed up the paper, keeping the birthdate intact, and signed it before giving it to the driver. He looked at the file, nodded, and opened the door for her.

"Welcome to HenchCo," he said. "RJ."

 _Six hours later_

"Time to wake up, RJ."

RJ felt a rough hand shaking her shoulder. Without knowing it, she had fallen asleep the moment she sat on the passenger seat of the SUV and slept all the way through the ride.

"What time is it?" She yawned and stretched herself on her seat.

"4:15am." The driver pressed a button on his dashboard, which made the glove compartment open and reveal a coffee-making machine inserted into the vehicle. "Care for some coffee? It's high in caffeine."

"Sure." He pressed more buttons. RJ watched as the machine spit the dark liquid into two cups. By the time they hit the next red light, they each took their cups. "So you seriously drive around with your own coffee-making machine?"

"Yep." Despite how hot the coffee was, the driver took less than a few seconds to drink it entirely before returning his focus to the upcoming green light. "When you have to do long drives for HenchCo, it's useful to have some caffeine with you. Helps you stay focused."

"So you never do any rest stops?" RJ grimaced a bit as she drank her coffee. Shame that the first coffee she was taking outside of her old home was sour. At least it helped jolt up her senses.

"Punctuality is one of the things that makes HenchCo so successful," the driver said as he made a right turn into a dark tunnel. "When a client makes an order or a new Y.E.A.R.N candidate needs to get to the headquarters, HenchCo guarantees that they will be delivered on time. For instance, since you decided to join the company's program, they instantly sent me, the nearest driver available, to pick you up and drive you all the way from Middleton to the south of Colorado. No rest stops. So yeah, I drank at least five cups of coffee during the trip."

"Wow. I hope they pay you well."

"45 dollars per hour, kid. That's triple of the minimum wage a normal bus driver makes." He continued to drive through the tunnel, which seemed to make endless left turns. "So, what motivated you to join HenchCo? I'm just trying to make conversation."

"I never left my apartment." RJ shrugged. "I needed to run away. Otherwise my life had no meaning."

"That's the spirit," the driver chuckled. "You'd be surprised how back in the good old days, many of the kids who joined Y.E.A.R.N were teenagers who ran away from home. I've worked for 25 years and I've heard the same stories: nobody understood me, my parents ruin my life, I didn't get the phone I wanted, or I used to be in juvie or the foster system." He sighed. "Wish there were more kids who'd run away from home like you did. I mean, jumping off a seventy-foot-tall building without any experience? Jack Hench will be pleased."

They stopped at a dead end. Confused as to why the driver bothered to bring them all the way to a tunnel with no end, RJ was tempted to ask until the wall's texture glowed like computer effect in a sci-fi movie. " _Present password._ "

"Bad is good," the driver said. The wall stopped glowing.

" _Password confirmed._ "

The wall opened a small passage that was big enough for the vehicle to go through. They drove their way out into a large, green mountain like area. A blue lake filled a good majority of the valley, and surrounding that lake was a large urban like city that looked twice the size of Middleton and shined with bright purple colors that reflected beautifully on the lake. RJ felt herself smiling in awe as they drove through the highway that seemed to bring them closer to the city.

"It's beautiful!" RJ exclaimed.

"Welcome to Minalshari," the driver said with a proud smile. "A city where every villain can now feel at home."

"Is that why we took so many left turns?" RJ asked. "Because a place like this must not be in a local brochure out there in Colorado. This place has got be underground. But then why does the sky look so real?"

"History lesson number one," the driver said. "Back in the past, villains used to live wherever they wanted in the world. But then about twenty-one years later, they're was an alien invasion that got everyone under panic. Fortunately, once the invasion was thwarted, HenchCo was prepared and created the Minalshari, a haven for villains. With the technology of virtual reality, we can both make the environment around this city look and feel realistic while keeping the city's existence a secret to the outside authorities. If you and I were commoners, we wouldn't use all those left turns and this charming highway here would just take us straight to Lake Nighthorse."

"And the city...the Minalshari...Can those studying at Y.E.A.R.N go there?"

"Of course! Seriously, RJ, I know you're new at the entire 'outside world experience', but you are no longer doing things like you did back in your old home. Once you get started with Y.E.A.R.N, you will develop a routine of evil education and days off. At HenchCo, you learn the ABCs of criminals, and during the weekends or vacations, you can either go to the Minalshari to shop at the mall, go to the movies, and hang out at other fun places, or you can try to spend your free time planning heists in the outside world. And throughout your experience, you get to make new friends and allies. Criminals are like birds. Eventually, they have to leave their nests in order to live their lives."

RJ thought of his comparison as he made a right turn and drove straight into a circular driveway that led to a gray building twice the length of an airport. The words HENCHCO were glowing red on top of the biggest glass window in all of the building. "That's HenchCo?"

"The one and only."

He stopped the car in front of the main entrance. A woman with dark brown hair dressed in a black-and-white clerk's dress was waiting for them, a clipboard resting in her hand. "Early by three minutes, I see," she said firmly.

"Punctuality is a factor at HenchCo." The driver shrugged. He gave the woman the paper RJ had filed while the latter took the opportunity to grab her things and get out of the vehicle. "Good luck at Y.E.A.R.N." He gave RJ a thumbs-up before the woman gave him a $10 tip and he drove away.

"RJ, I presume?" She asked the teenager.

"Yes."

"Secretary Magali." She shook her hand with RJ. "HenchCo is pleased to have you join us. If you will follow me."

RJ held onto her bag and followed Secretary Magali through the front door and straight into an elevator that was already waiting for them. The woman pressed the #4 button and caused the two to take a ride upward.

"You'll be first taken to Floor Four, where you will first be decontaminated and suited before leading you straight to your future residence."

"Decontaminated?" The elevator opened, leading straight into a room with a modern floor tub, several cabinets full of bottles and cleaning equipment, a rack full of hanging purple uniforms, and a mini version of a hair stylist's working area, only the stylist was a woman in a white lab coat and matching mask. It was like a horror movie doctor had replaced the role of the stylist. "Oh boy."

"She's good for decontamination." Secretary Magali gestured at the woman in the lab coat. The latter wasted no time and walked over to RJ, pointing up and down at her clothes. "These must be taken off."

RJ blushed in awkwardness. Minutes later, she found herself dipping in the tub full of pink foam that seemed to act like a sponge while the woman put her clothes in a box labeled 'Dirty Laundry'. Meanwhile, Secretary Magali searched through the uniforms in order to find one that fit RJ in size.

"Are you left-handed or right handed?" the woman in a lab coat asked RJ once the latter got out of the tub and dried herself.

"I'm ambidextrous. Why do...OUCH!" RJ yelped when the woman grabbed her right wrist and inserted something through her skin. "What was that for?"

"All new Y.E.A.R.N candidates must have their skin decontaminated before getting microchips transferred into their wrists," Secretary Magali explained. "With the microchips, you will be identified as a member of HenchCo and allowed to go through any HenchCo-permitted areas. It will unlock your residence door once it touches the handle scanner and the same to any training room or classroom. Plus, it will help you get back inside the Minalshari if you go out on some sort of heist."

"So, it's like a digital ID." RJ put on the uniform that Secretary Magali handed to her. She pinched the tight fabric once it covered her neck to feet. "Leather?" she asked the woman in a lab coat while the latter guided her to the chair in the hair stylist area.

"HenchCo factory built latex," the woman answered. She pulled out a wireless hairdryer, a hairbrush, and a pair of scissors and proceeded to cut, dry, and refashion the girl's hair. RJ watched as more of her ginger blonde locks fell onto the ground. "A 100% indestructible, waterproof, and bulletproof textile that all executive employees ranging from Y.E.A.R.N to full-time henchmen must wear here."

"And it's machine washable." Secretary Magali pointed out. She opened a drawer and pulled out a blue pin with the black words HENCHO Y.E.A.R.N printed on it. "In simple words, you only have to worry about washing this suit with warm water at least once a week." Once the lady in the lab coat was finished with RJ's hair, the secretary pinned the accessory on area just above RJ's left breast and close enough to the suit's zipper. "Decontamination and uniform preparation, check." While Secretary Magali marked this off her notepad and gave a tip to the lady in a lab coat, RJ got up and looked at her reflection in the nearest mirror. She couldn't believe the amount of times she saw her appearance changing ever since she made her decision. It first started with a girl with waist-long straight hair and white clothes from a confined apartment, then it was followed by the girl using scissors to cut her hair and sleeves after she landed in a dumpster, and now she was looking at a girl in a purple latex uniform consisting of black straps, armbands, and boots. The woman in a lab coat did an incredible work at fashioning RJ's hair by creating three bangs that sprung over her forehead like spikes and three tinier ones just above her head. She definetly no longer looked like the Ronilda who was on the verge of jumping out of a seventy-foot-tall building. Now she looked like the RJ that just entered HenchCo.

And the decontamination session had also gotten rid of that disgusting garbage odor, which now made her smell like lavender.

She picked up her bag and followed Secretary Magali outside of the room into a white hallway that led to a modern-like lobby and waiting area. "Is Room 459 vacant, as requested?" the woman asked a man who was busy typing something on the desk computer.

"Vacant." He shrugged.

"Good."

The man pressed another button on his computer, causing some glass doors to open automatically and granting passage for the ladies. RJ looked at the brown painted doors they were passing. Each of them had a golden plate screwed onto the door and carved with a numerical number. She noticed that none of the numbers were placed in chronological order. For instance, she noticed that one door labeled 101 was followed by a 333.

"Is the order of those doors normal?" she asked Secretary Magali.

"Each door reflects the number of the resident Y.E.A.R.N member," the woman said. "Once that member leaves Y.E.A.R.N for good, their number is removed and their room will be the one for the next new number." They finally stopped in front of a door with number 459 carved on the golden plate. "You are member #459, so you get this room."

"There are 458 other members? I thought there would be more."

"You and I can both dream." Secretary Magali rolled her eyes. "We were used to having a minimum of 100 members per year ever since HenchCo opened the Y.E.A.R.N program, but thanks to the stupid alien invasion, the numbers have seriously decreased. I wish I could say that you'll end up with a lot of 'classmates', but we only have fifteen members now that you joined the club. You, RJ, are the 459th teen to have joined us since Y.E.A.R.N opened." She pointed at a scanning screen that stood where the doorknob should be. "Let the screen scan your arm with the chip and it will let you in."

RJ put her right hand on the screen. A quick digital green light scanned her hand until it turned off. A click followed and the door slid open automatically. She froze when she saw her new residence. It was like walking back inside her former room, only it was morphed into a hotel suite with all the basic essentials and more...liveliness. The walls were painted yellow cream and the floor was carpeted with a mocha brown fabric that almost made RJ feel like she was walking on chocolate grass. Overall, there were three rooms: one room was a walk-in kitchen with a chessboard-tiled floor and all the essentials from cabinets and drawers to oven and fridge, a sea foam colored bathroom with a bathtub and shower that made RJ's old one look ancient, and the biggest room looking like a combination of bedroom and living room with a TV, book shelves, two armchairs and a couch, a coffee table, a built-in bed with bed sheets and a curtain that matched the walls and floor, and an empty walk-in closet. There was also a window covered by a curtain matching the one from the bed.

RJ struggled to not squeal at the sight of her room. Secretary Magali chuckled at the sight of her. "I'll give you ten minutes to get to know your new home while I call Jack Hench."

"OK." RJ grabbed her bag and instantly rushed to her new room while the woman did her call. She put the items from her bag in the areas they now belonged: the baby carrots and bottle of water in the fridge, the cutting knife in the sink, the toiletry bag in the bathroom's cabinet, and her pencil case, scrapbook, and souvenir nature scraps on the shelves as decoration.

"New beginning," she sighed in relief. She looked out the window and saw an artificial sunrise on the verge of lighting up the empty track-and-field stadium, basketball court, and soccer field.

A small knock was heard from the open door. "I managed to contact Jack Hench," Secretary Magali said. "He hopes to speak with you before you jump into your first class."

"Coming," RJ said.

 _Meanwhile_

 _Ha, ha, ha..._

Martin blinked and found himself sitting in a Lotus pose on the cold floor of what seemed to be a very dark room, but when he got up, he saw that it wasn't really a room. It was just a black emptiness with only a series of pathways made of reflective glass.

A maze of reflections, or a house of mirrors, as one would put it.

"Great," Martin muttered. "There's no way I'm doing such a wasteful past..."

 _Ha, ha, ha..._

Normally, he'd punch anyone who tried to laugh at him, but the laughing sounded more like a girl's giggling. The kind she would make when she was so...innocent and naive.

Something white flashed through the mirrors. "Hey!" He shouted, causing him to run after it in the maze. He bumped several times into the glass walls, since they were so easily deceiving. He was lost in a maze of bruised clones of himself.

The white flashed through the mirrors again, only this time it was followed by a flick of...what on earth was that color? From a distance, just the color of it made the white flash look like a speedy torch, but once Martin started to resume his chase, the flame became lighter and moved with hair motion. The white's movement as it dashed through the mirrors had now silk movements and flesh colors...

"Wait a minute." It hit Martin as he chased the thing all the way the center of the maze. The thing tempting him on such a hunt wasn't a sentient torch.

 _Ha, ha, ha..._

The white definitely cleared up into the way it appeared to Martin: silk-like fabric that formed a white strapless long dress, very much like a dress belonging to a Greek goddess, with a large slit revealing average-sized, slender flesh. Its Caucasian color blended so well with the silk.

The female figure just stood at the center of the maze, its bare back causing the confused Martin to bite his lips. What on earth was going on? He couldn't walk away. Why had the figure led him here? Was this a trap?

The flaming color... It was her shoulder-long hair that acted as the torch's flame. He could now see its color. A lovely ginger blonde color, the perfect orange color he usually saw in the fireplace when the yellow flames reached the intersection before hitting the color red.

Normally, he knew that you should never touch fire, but he just couldn't resist for long. He raised a hand towards the figure.

 _Ha..._ "HALLO, MARTIN!"

Martin woke up and found himself falling, his cheek kissing the cold stone floor. He was back in his home castle, right on the spot in the living room where he was meditating until Gilliard cut his peace like a saber does to a piece of paper.

"What is the meaning of this, Gilliard?" He coldly asked the fish-boy mutant as the latter helped him get up and gave him space to straighten his shirt.

"After three hours of sitting here like a statue, you completely ignored your mom when she said it was lunchtime," Gilliard said.

"I'm fine." Martin rubbed his eyes. "Just tell my parents that I'll pass lunch." He walked out of the living room and into the dark, austere hallways he grew up in for his entire life. Gilliard trailed him.

"Dude, are you sure you're OK? Because you just entered a new form of creeped out."

"Is that so?" Martin pushed open a door, leading straight into his family's immense library. Everything collected by the Fiskes from family records to mystical monkey idols was categorized alphabetically. He instantly searched through the titles. "What were my previous forms?"

"You only had one and I won't say it because I know it disgusts you." Gilliard looked at the mountain of books Martin was looking through. "OK, seriously, what are you looking for in these twelve-feet-long dozens of bookshelves that decorate every single inch of this room?"

"A book my mother owns called 'Occultism and Spiritual Understanding'," Martin said. "A very thick book that discusses visions and their complex concepts..."

"Is it this?" Gilliard sarcastically asked when he pulled out a red-covered, dusty book that laid on a shelf facing him. He showed the golden title to Martin.

Occultism and Spiritual Understanding.

"Careful! This is a Simian Witch relic that went in my mother's family for eras!" Martin caught the book and gently put it on the floor. Once he and Gilliard sat down, he used the tip of his fingers to carefully open the book and flip the pages. "There's got to be a page in here that talks about what I saw while I was meditating..."

"Give me three quick descriptions," Gilliard said.

"OK." Martin rolled his eyes. "A maze of reflective mirrors, a completely black atmosphere, and some...girl running and giggling while sort of appearing like a burning white torch." He glared at Gilliard, who was snorting and giving him teasing eyes. "What?"

"Have you been dating behind your parents back or do you have some dream girl?" Gilliard joke.

"Gilliard, I swear that if we weren't friends..." He paused. "Wait, I found at least one of the things I mentioned!"

He pointed at a page illustrating the maze of mirrors.

"Cool," Gilliard said. "So, what does it mean?"

Martin looked at the pages text before blinking at it over and over again. "Seriously? 'Maze of Mirrors. It confuses the feelings you have for the object you're chasing.'"

"It sounds like a cheesy tarot card reader."

Martin flipped through more pages until he found a reference to the black atmosphere. "'Black void. It might just give you a hint on how to fill up that empty space in your life.'" He found the last thing he had seen. The illustration perfectly showed the torch figure, only in black over white. "'The White Torch. She is a fire of burning innocence, but of which fire is she?'" He grumbled. "This doesn't make sense."

Gilliard pondered. "Maybe you have an empty hole in your soul and there's some girl with a fire that could help you fill it up...But you just don't know what kind of fire it is? A good one or a bad one?"

The simian mutant looked drily at the fish mutant. "That is by far the strangest thing you of all the people could have suggested."

"Ahem."

They looked up and saw the Simian Witch leaning by the doorway and tapping her foot impatiently.

"The next time you want to snoop in the library and read one of my ancient texts, ask me," she said firmly.

"Sorry, Mother." Martin picked up the book and handed it over to his mother. She instantly dismissed him, but once Martin was out of sight, she held back Gilliard.

"What was my son looking for in my book?" she asked him.

"Something about having a black void and a maze of mirrors confusing his intentions for the fire of some torch girl," he admitted. "Is this normal, you know, for your kind of witches?"

"No." She looked dreadfully at the book. "It means that danger might come to my son depending on how he receives this...torch girl."


	4. RJ Meets YEARN

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 4: RJ Meets Y.E.A.R.N

"Well, well, well! If it isn't our newest addition! The daring building jumper!"

Jack Hench had stepped up from his desk the moment Secretary Magali came in with RJ following her. Just like any business leader, he wore a black business suit with golden buttons, beige pants and matching brown shoes, and to further his connections with evil business, he wore a magenta shirt and pink tie under that black suit. Many years of running HenchCo was confirmed by his entirely grey hair.

"You may leave us, Magali," he said by waving a hand at Secretary Magali. The woman nodded her head and left as soon as she placed the necessary documents on his desk, leaving RJ to shake hands with the old, but quite energetic leader of the company.

"I'm sure you've been told this _constantly_ today, RJ, but HenchCo is happy to have you join us," he said once they stopped shaking hands.

"I've heard." RJ nodded. "Although I thought there would be more members in Y.E.A.R.N..."

"Ah, yes. Our company is facing a dire period." Jack Hench shook his head with displeasure before raising his hands up to show his entire, large office. "You know, RJ, HenchCo is a company that prides itself to its contribution to the evil community services. I was only in my late twenties when I founded this company, where we've built state-of-the-art weapons and devices and trained henchmen before having the whole lot sold or hired by our clients. Later on, I created the Y.E.A.R.N Program to villain-up youngsters like yourself..."

"To increase the amount of criminals in order to encourage your clients to hire more henchmen here?" RJ guessed.

"You are _good_!" Jack Hench clapped his hands in praise.

"But then the entire 'alien invasion' thing plummeted your numbers?" RJ air quoted the invasion that she had heard of as many times as her stunt.

"Thanks for reminding me." Jack Hench grimaced. "Now with all the good people focusing more on space and villains getting away with their crimes too easily, villainy is going downside along with my company. Y.E.A.R.N is now reduced to the size of a normal, pathetic high school class. Seriously, I have two kids of my own in Y.E.A.R.N and I've caught them yawning in class!"

"Speaking of class..." RJ hated the idea of sounding impatient on the first day, but she really needed a reprieve from villains constantly talking about how an alien invasion ruining their lives and a higher focus on the reason she was here.

"Of course." Jack Hench pressed a button, causing the floor to open and bring upward a rectangular pillar that reached RJ's waist. On top of the pillar rested five books, three notebooks, three textbooks, a thin laptop with matching plug and extension cord, and a pencil case, all with the HenchCo logo. "Y.E.A.R.N is something that we like to call 'learn as you go', so generally we train our members in five general criminal themes. As you train at HenchCo, your training level will depend on the level you're willing to put yourself through. In other words, the more you show your hard work, the more challenging your training gets."

"Is there a sort of minimum point average?" RJ asked while he handed her a messenger handbag to put all her items in.

"We don't. We like to evaluate our members through punctuality, ambition, and punctual. Slack off and you leave Y.E.A.R.N and HenchCo," Jack Hench said in a serious tone.

RJ gulped. "And...what's HenchCo's idea of slacking off?" She didn't want to imagine being forced to go back home and confront her grandmother because she got caught doing something like wanting to go shopping at the Minalshari for instance.

Fortunately, Jack Hench understood what she meant. "Relax, RJ." He patted her on the shoulder. "You won't get penalized if you do something like go to the movies or shop at the mall. It's only if you show laziness at Y.E.A.R.N."

RJ sighed in relief while he continued. "You'll be taking your five classes five times a week from a minimum of one hour to a maximum of six hours per week per class depending on the teacher, from seven am to four pm. Weekends are off, so you can spend your time self-training or going to the Minalshari or doing heists in the outside world. Y.E.A.R.N will grant you to a library for intellectual studies, several gymnasiums for physical exercise, a hangar full of jets, cars, and other forms of transportation that you can use once you have your license, a shuttle to the Minalshari, and a limitless discount that will reduce whatever you buy until you leave HenchCo for good. And yes, HenchCo pays you for the effort you put in your work. Are there any more questions?"

"Aside from how this is completely awesome," RJ said while suppressing her geeking, "may I know in which class I'll end up with? You know, like if there's some sort of class for first-timers..."

"Good question, but for obvious reasons, we don't do those kind of classes." Jack Hench shook his head. "All of the current members are placed in the same class unit despite their different levels or years of experience, so that's where you'll end up going. So you'll just have to learn as you go." He looked up at the clock on his office, indicating that it was now ten minutes until six am. "You still have a good while before your first class starts and from what I'm seeing, you didn't have a proper breakfast on your way here."

"I had a cup of coffee." RJ held a hand over her stomach in order to avoid her new 'boss' hearing the quite loud growling that was coming out of her. Honestly, could you blame it? She hadn't eaten since 6:30pm last night and had only one cup of coffee this morning (the latter did an effective job at keeping her up, she wondered what kind of caffeine they used).

"Not an excuse." He led her out of his office and took her to the nearest elevator, which unlike the first one she encountered, was made of see-through glass, so when the elevator went down, it gave a great view of the floors they passed: a lab full of fuel tanks and experimental tables, which were currently unoccupied because it was still early, a hangar full of jets and other vehicles that were being catered by HenchCo employees, a green auditorium, until they finally went to the first floor, which was a large cafeteria full of rectangle tables all lined up in a military fashion, a food court where two or three employees were waiting awfully patiently to serve food, and a screen that seemed to display the local news.

"The cafeteria," Jack Hench said once they got out of the elevator. "Usually reserved for Y.E.A.R.N members and other HenchCo employees. It's still morning, so some are still, you know, sleeping in."

"I see." RJ felt a bit nervous as they walked through the rows of empty tables. It reminded her a bit too much of home, particularly when she was left alone while her grandmother went out to play bingo. Even the gray walls of the cafeteria, which contrasted with her old white apartment, made her want to cringe. "I do hope I'm not the only one here this morning."

As if answering to her prayer, a door opened on the other side of the cafeteria and a girl came in. She looked like she could be half a year or a full year older than RJ, only she had bluish green skin, a blue puffed sleeved shirt fashioned like a mad scientist's lab coat, a long black slit with green trims, black thigh-high running boots, and black gloves that went all the way up to her sleeves. Her long black hair had two lime green dyed streaks and was tied up in a messy ponytail that reached her waist while one large bang covered the right side of her face. A small scar was on her left cheek, just a few inches below the only blue eye she willingly showed.

"Still not wearing your required uniform, Melgo?" Jack Hench called out to the girl in a disapproving tone. She looked at him indifferently, the same way a rough, yet small puppy looked at a large, mean bulldog as if the latter's large size and meanness didn't affect it. Despite this, she still walked over to them and crossed her arms professionally while talking to the leader of the company. RJ noticed that she also carried a messenger bag like the one Jack Hench gave her, which could only mean one thing. She was also a member of Y.E.A.R.N.

"I already wore it on my first year. Besides, latex doesn't suit me," she said. She had the tone of one of those TV gothic girls who had the habit of throwing sarcastic puns at everything in life. Her blue eye spotted RJ, causing her to arch an eyebrow in surprise. "A new member?" she asked Jack Hench.

"Yes. I have a lot of work to deal with, so if you could lead her through her first week _without_ blasting her..."

"Is this still about the bank in Nevada?" The girl rolled her eyes.

"I think you know." He patted RJ on the shoulder. "Best of luck at Y.E.A.R.N."

RJ nodded gratefully. Jack Hench left the girls alone in the quiet cafeteria. He got on the elevator that lifted him upward away from the area, making him look like a small dot flying into space.

RJ heard her stomach gurgle again and quickly covered it with her hand in embarrassment.

"Come on." The girl nodded her head towards the employees waiting to serve them. "We'd better get our stomachs full, otherwise we won't have any fuel today."

RJ nodded and silently followed the girl. The employees lined up and eagerly played with their ladles. "The usual for me," the girl said.

"OK." The first employee, an Asian-American woman whose nametag literally said 'CAFETERIA EMPLOYEE #1', said. "A full plate of scrambled eggs and bacon sausages with a cup of dark coffee."

"And you?" The second employee, an African-American woman with a similarly ridiculous nametag, asked RJ. "Any preferences?"

"I'll eat anything." RJ shrugged. "I'm not really picky."

"A plate of plain pancakes and berry salad coming right up. Any preference for a drink?"

"Tea." RJ definetly didn't want coffee after the last one she drank. Cafeteria Employee #2 took less than a minute to hand her a tray full of plain pancakes covered in maple syrup, a berry salad bowl, and a cup of tea with a scent that gave away its nature as chai tea. RJ gave a small thankful nod to the employee and followed the scarred girl to one of the tables at the center of the empty cafeteria.

"You don't talk much, do you?" She asked RJ, who gave her a small shrug. "Well, that's a new change. Positively speaking, that contrasts Buffy and her constant jabbering about golf. That kind of talk is a good reason for me to avoid group meals first thing in the morning."

"But...there's no one here." RJ motioned with a finger the empty dining hall.

"By now, they're probably still sleeping, waiting until they only have 30 minutes to get ready, grab a small bite, and head to the first class barely one minute before it begins." She poked a fork into her scrambled eggs. "I've seen this jazz ever since I started at Y.E.A.R.N."

"I see." RJ cut small pieces of her pancakes and chewed them silently. The plain mixture was still sweet in flavor, and felt good as it slid its way down her throat.

An awkward silence took place between the two girls for thirty seconds. "You're not good at starting conversations, are you?" The girl asked RJ.

"I'm not used to social interactions," RJ confessed after she took a sip of warm chai. "Frankly, you're the only teenager I've ever spoken too in my life."

"Get _out_!" The girl exclaimed in disbelief. "You can't be serious!" RJ didn't blink or shy away at the last sentence. "OK, seriously, don't you know it's not healthy to not socialize with other people your age? I mean, you're like what, sixteen?"

"I'll turn sixteen next month."

"I can't believe it." The girl slapped herself on the forehead. "How do you even manage to go to the mall without running once into one of your high school classmates in one of those 'What's up?' or 'Love the new outfit' or even the 'Want to go to the movies next Friday?' conversations?"

"How should I know? I've never been allowed to leave my apartment!" RJ angrily poked at her berry salad as if she were lashing her frustration at the fruit through impalement. Great, now she was dealing with one of the things she was afraid of facing in the real world: social alienation due to her isolated lifestyle.

"Is that why you're here? Because you ran away from home?" The girl guessed.

RJ sighed and stuffed more berries in her mouth. "Yes."

"So your folks have no idea you left." The girl chuckled. "I'm assuming they'll be shocked to find your bed empty."

"Like they'd care." RJ snorted. "I never knew my parents. It's my grandma who raised me and practically left me alone in the apartment while she went out for bingo. She claims that they're not around because they're very busy people and that no one else other know I exist."

"No way. So, no public records?"

"Nope."

"Birth certificates?"

"My grandma claims that my parents burned it before they left me."

"You can't be serious! But then how did you manage to do things like if you were sick or had teeth problem?"

"She was a former brain surgeon with at least three minors in other forms of medication, so she did everything. Giving me the flu shots, checking my teeth, etc." RJ sighed. "Yep. That was my life."

"Unbelievable." The girl finished her coffee. "I come from a family of villains, but compare them to your folks, you actually make them look like _decent_ people. Oh, well. We can always see the positive side of this."

"What's so positive about my life?" RJ asked coldly.

"Look at it this way," the girl said. "Only your grandma and your folks know that you exist. To the world," she shrugged, "you don't exist. You won't have some sort of secret identity that authorities can use on you or that the media can use. Take my folks for instance: one's a mad scientist and the other a mercenary working as his sidekick. What's their secret identity? One is a former college dropout who was friends with his arch-foe's dad and the other was an ex-superheroine. You can imagine the humiliation it brings them just to hear those facts mentioned _once_."

"Wow." RJ felt envious. This girl had such an amazing group of parents. A mad scientist and a super powered mercenary? RJ was glad to have jumped off a building just to hear that.

She looked up at the TV screen on the wall and saw that the time indicated 6:30am. "We still got half an hour before the first class starts?"

"Yeah, but let's not waste time trolling around." They got up, picked up their trays, and threw them in a disposal bin. "By the way, I'm Melgo. And for the record, don't call me 'Mel'."

"RJ."

 _Thirty minutes later_

"I have to climb _this_?" RJ pointed a disbelieving finger at a climbing wall full of barbed wires that slithered their way through the climbing holds all the way to the top, where a small safe was rested.

"It's just a first-timer exercise," the professor, a man wearing a matching uniform excluding the pin and including black shades to conceal his eyes, said while looking at a notepad. "New members of Y.E.A.R.N are tested to see how strong their endurance are. All you need to do is climb up there and reach the safe."

"Am I also being tested on my time?" RJ turned to Melgo, who had managed to convince the professor to let her keep an eye on RJ's training during the latter's first day in the P.E class of Y.E.A.R.N while the other members practiced slipping through indoor barbed wire.

"The worst time you could possible make is fifteen minutes," Melgo said. "The only wimp who managed to get fifteen minutes just to get up here instantly quit just because he got spikes stuck in his hair. So just focus on the holds and ask yourself how you can use them to climb."

RJ took a deep breath and looked back up at the climbing wall. Compared to the building she was doomed to live in in the past, this wall was only two stories high. _Still_ , she thought as she walked towards it and instantly grabbed one of the black holds with her right hand, _I've never climbed a wall before_...

She blinked in order to clear her sight, but the moment she reopened her eyes, everything seemed so blue except for a trail of climbing holds that glowed red in her vision. Without even thinking, she swung her arms up at the holds one at a time while using her legs to push herself up and dodge the barbed wire. Everything seemed to not exist around her as she climbed faster than she had imagined. Her blue-and-red vision suddenly disappeared by the time she reached the safe. "Uh?" she gasped. She didn't realize she had such agility, but she brushed it off and grabbed the safe before jumping back into the ground.

"Unbelievable!" The professor checked his timer while RJ struggled to get back up after landing on her butt. "You just climbed up that wall in less than one minute and forty seconds!"

"That can't be right," RJ said as she shook the safe and was disappointed to find out that it was just a doodled carton box. "I never climbed a wall in my life."

"Forget the wall, RJ," Melgo, who was as shocked as the professor, said. "You just broke the record and managed to do it with such an agility!"

"How many did you do when _you_ did it the first time?"

"Eight minutes and eleven seconds. The only difference is that I didn't jump off the wall...and I kinda had a fear of heights back then." Melgo blushed in embarrassment at the memory before turning to the professor. "So what do you think of RJ's rather prodigal performance, professor?"

"Hm." The professor looked at his paperwork. "For one, her climbing speed and agility is unusual."

"In a bad way?" RJ looked nervous.

"Of course not!" He reassured her. "It's just that a henchmen trained in Y.E.A.R.N usually performs at average six minutes and five seconds, but what you did was beyond average." He rubbed his chin until he seemed to have gotten an idea. He clapped his hands and summoned everyone to a ring in the center of the training arena. "ONE ON ONE FACEOFF! EVERYONE TO THE RING!"

"He's not being serious!" Melgo exclaimed. "Sir, she wasn't even trained yet in combat! You expect her to live through a faceoff?"

"I know what I'm doing. RJ, in the ring, now." He said it gently, put firmly to her. RJ walked up to the circular ring, which was decorated with the logo of HenchCo on the surface. "BUFFY! UP HERE, NOW!"

RJ heard some whispers among the members. She definetly recognized the sound of snickers, the kind that said they were eager to watch the newbie get hit. Her opponent got up on the ring. It was a girl close to her age with the matching uniform expect the black straps were fashioned to resemble Scottish kilt patterns. Like RJ, she was Caucasian, and like Melgo, she had waist-long hair tied in a ponytail. Except her hair was light brown with an orange streak and her cut bangs only covered her forehead. For some reason, she wore a golfing hat and matching golf ball earrings.

"Hope you won't mind me kicking your molasses, laddie," Buffy chuckled as she cracked her knuckles.

"Uh?" RJ was confused by Buffy's remark in thick Scottish accent.

"She means she's going to put you in a world of pain!" Melgo shouted out.

"Couldn't she have just said that?" Everyone, including Buffy, looked deadpan at her. "I was homeschooled!"

"Homeschool this!" Buffy ran towards her and aimed to kick RJ right in the stomach. The latter dreaded the worst until she got the blue-and-red vision back and she instantly jumped five feet in the air before pinning Buffy to the ring with the same kind of kick the former wanted to give her. Gasps were heard among the members.

"OK, that was unexpected..." Melgo said.

"How on earth is she doing this?" Another asked.

"I'm through with kicks!" Buffy aimed a fist at RJ, but the girl instantly grabbed her fist and spun her off the ring and into the barbed wire. Many grimaced at the sight of Buffy struggling to get up through all this barbed wire.

RJ rubbed her forehead once the blue-and-red vision cleared up and saw the state she had left Buffy in. "You're not injured?" She asked worryingly.

"Nah. Just...my pride." Buffy grimaced as she picked off the spikes stuck on her sleeves while the professor pinched his nose.

"Everyone take five," he ordered. "RJ, a quick word."

While RJ nervously followed the professor into a private chat, Melgo helped Buffy get rid of the spikes.

"I can't believe I was instantly KO by a newbie," Buffy said, still in shock from what happened.

"Forget your defeat," Melgo said while quickly glancing at RJ talking to the professor. "What really concerns me is RJ's performance."

"So she beat me in a faceoff. Big whoop, lassie." Buffy shrugged.

"YES, you were defeated by a newbie who never left her home or stepped outside in her entire life." Melgo rolled her eyes. "She told me she never did any physical sports in her life and honestly her naiveté is evident, but she managed to break the rock climbing record and tossed you around like a rag doll as if it were nothing."

"You know, that you _do_ mention it, I did see RJ's eyes turn blue when she fought it. You know, changing colors the same way you were possessed. Maybe she has some sort of dormant power?"

RJ returned, looking rather complex. "So what did he say?" Melgo asked.

"OK, people! Back in formation!" The professor ordered, forcing them to hold on their conversation for later.

 _An hour and a half later_

RJ groaned as she massaged her sore knuckles.

This wasn't the first time she had punched something in her life. The first times were when she punched her pillow in frustration whenever her grandmother kept refusing to let her out. But the punching bags that HenchCo used for Y.E.A.R.N's Physical Training classes felt like trying to punch an elephant on the stomach without any luck. Now she had purple bruises all over her knuckles, which definetly clashed with her complexion.

"Let me guess." Melgo rolled her eyes in amusement while she and RJ walked to the next class with Buffy following them. "First time getting bruised by punching?"

"I don't know if I can even feel my bones," RJ muttered.

"Have you tried cracking your knuckles?" Buffy suggested. "It's helped during me first time."

RJ decided to try and crossed her fingers before cracking her knuckles. Oddly, Buffy's suggestion worked. The pain was gone. "Thanks."

"Eh." Buffy shrugged. "Although honestly, laddie, it was shocking that you couldn't smack those punching bags the same way you tossed me into that barbed wire."

"I swear, I have no idea what happened!" RJ said in defense. "First you were running towards me, then there was nothing, and next thing I knew, I saw you out of the ring and in the wire! The same thing happened when I had to climb the wall!"

"So, you don't remember what happened and then Buffy pointed out that your eyes were glowing blue..." Melgo listed. "Looks like you weren't kidding about her possessing a dormant power, mad golfer girl."

"Aye, there are times when I try to have less brains and more brawns," Buffy said casually.

"So, is it a bad thing or a good thing?" RJ asked nervously.

"Well, it's good because now you know you might have a unique skill that you can develop and learn to control while you're here, but it's bad because if you don't know what it is or don't know how to control it..." Melgo stopped talking and trailed one of her fingers over her scar.

"Oh, it's not _so_ bad." Buffy gently patted Melgo on the shoulder. "At least you got your mommy's powers..."

"Buffy?" RJ said quietly. "I think maybe we should give Melgo a break."

Melgo nodded gratefully. They reached a metal door and opened it to a large room full of lab equipment, cabinets full of chemical products, walls full of periodic tables, and an old-fashioned chalkboard.

"Now _that's_ my kind of evil!" Melgo took a deep breath and sighed in happiness. She and RJ took the nearest table in the front row while Buffy sat in the one behind them. As the room filled up with more of the members, RJ felt herself a bit more comfortable. Sure, this was criminal business, but right now it almost felt like being inside a normal high school chemistry class. _My very first one_ , she told herself giddily.

A whacking sound almost made her jump off her seat. The professor had stepped in, this time a thirty-year-old man in a lab coat who looked like Albert Einstein's younger cousin, only the younger cousin had a military haircut.

"Mr. Barkin?" Melgo arched an eyebrow. "Where's Professor Knogifenam?"

"Get used to it, people! Professor Knogifenam had to spend a week at the hospital after that freak accident with the fuel experiment last Friday! I'm looking at you, Lipsky!" He shouted.

"Me?" Melgo asked in disbelief.

"Not you, Lipsky! Your cousin with the mullet, who I see didn't come here today!"

"Yeah, Edina couldn't come today." Melgo sighed in exasperation as if she had dealt with this multiple times. "She's helping out my 'uncle' prepare for the Minalshari Monster Truck Rally next Tuesday."

"Get used to Barkin," Buffy whispered to RJ. "I heard that playing the role of substitute teacher runs in his family. He even had a cousin named Steven who played that role in Middleton two decades ago!"

"How many Barkins are there...AAAH!" RJ jumped on her seat when Mr. Barkin slapped the table just in front of her.

"Pay attention, newbie! The newbie doesn't ask questions, the teacher asks the questions and you answer them! Stand in front of the board!" He shouted at her face.

"Yes, sir." She gulped and walked towards the board, where she faced the other members staring at her. Many of them looked at her, wondering what the girl who just shocked them in Physical Training would do next in the Scientific Training course.

"Now I know that a lot of you teenagers think that just because you're training to be hired as henchmen or become a professional villain means that you need all the brawn." Mr. Barkin paced in front of them. "Well guess what, people, you're living in a fantasy! In the real world, evil people won't hire you if your brain is as dull as a door nail!" He turned to RJ. "So, it's usually traditional that the newbie passes an oral pop quiz to prove that she's not planning to be some sort of sidekick nitwit! Newbie, you will answer a series of scientific questions until I give up or you cry. Got it?"

"Yes, sir." RJ nodded.

"OK. I weigh 140 pounds and I exploded in 1945 in..."

"The Little Boy." RJ rolled her eyes. "The very first warfare atomic bomb. Its 140 pound weight is actually its filling weight, and it's full of nothing but Uranium-235, the atomic substance Americans used to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

Mr. Barkin nodded. "Correct. Here is a tough one for you. What is the Schrödinger..."

"It's an equation that describes the changes over time of a physical system in which quantum effects are significant."

Mr. Barkin looked at her like she was an alien while the other students murmured in shock. "What?" RJ asked. "Being stuck home got me bored to the point I ended up memorizing an entire mathematics book."

"I'll say you aced this oral test." He motioned her to go back to her chair. "Pay more attention, people! While you take advantage of Y.E.A.R.N's wrecked reputation to goof off, this one actually bothers to make an effort on the first day!"

"Was I supposed to fail?" RJ asked in confusion. This caused Buffy to groan and slap herself on the forehead.

"This is going to take longer than I expected," Melgo mumbled.

 _At lunchtime_

The girls went out to the outdoor basketball court during their lunch break. After all, with the artificial atmosphere giving out a sunny day, they couldn't choose the glum, barely occupied cafeteria over an outdoor lunch while most of the other members of Y.E.A.R.N either ate at the cafeteria or took the advantage of their hour long lunch break to go hang out in the Minalshari. Melgo managed to get an order of Chinese Food delivered to them while she wrote down notes and observations while occasionally glancing at Buffy teaching RJ how to play basketball.

It still stunned her. She just met a girl with no real world experience and yet she managed to do things that even she couldn't do right away on her own first day at HenchCo's Y.E.A.R.N: breaking an old record, single handedly defeating an experienced fighter, outsmarting others in science, and even now rapidly beating someone in a sport she never played before in her entire life. For crying out loud, once RJ learned the basics of basketball, Buffy wasn't able to throw the ball into the hoop even once!

"I think I might have figured out something!" She called out to Buffy and RJ, who instantly stopped playing and joined her in eating Chinese food.

"I see you still failed to remember that I disdain stir fried bamboo slices served with soy sauce." Buffy gagged and pushed the take-out box aside before wolfing down on the container full of veggie dumplings.

Melgo rolled her eyes before going back to RJ, who ate some rice noodles and bok choy. "I think I know how to understand your 'tiny' problem," she told her.

RJ made sure that her mouth was empty before asking. "So what's my problem?"

"I think that what you're dealing with right now is a textbook case known in our community as Inherited Mixed Personality Disorder." Melgo pulled out her Evil Psychology textbook, which belonged to a class that RJ had yet to take. She flipped through several pages until she showed the one corresponding to her theory. "Inherited Mixed Personality Disorder comes to those who come from a lineage with clashing personalities..."

"Like multiple personality disorder?" RJ asked.

"Not even close." Melgo shook her head. "You need to have had a traumatic experience and multiple personas in the disorder you mentioned. In the Inherited Mixed Personality Disorder, you have to be born from two individuals with clashing abilities and personalities, which causes you to behave in an unstable mixture of the two." She then showed her notes. "You had an unusual power that made you perform extremely well in Physical Training despite the fact that this is your first time doing it and now the professor wants you do some advanced training if possible, then you proved to be rather intellectual during the oral pop quiz, and then I saw that you were a very fast learner. In a way, there's a part of your metabolism that only knows how to be perfect."

"So you're saying she's a perfectionist?" Buffy asked.

"No, but she's got the genes of one. If she were one, she wouldn't be as laid-back as she is right now, so that must come from the other gene."

"Wow." RJ shocked. "I'm both perfectionist and laid-back material?"

"Yeah, but I still can't put my finger on the entire part of your blue glowing eyes thing or why you completely zoned out mentally whenever it happened." Melgo tapped her fingers on the textbook in frustration.

"You know, I noticed that your eyes weren't glowing when the professor made us hit those punching bags," Buffy pointed out. She wiped her mouth off with her hand and got up. The others looked at her walk back to the court and pick up the basketball before shouting "RJ, CATCH!" and throwing it straight at RJ. The blue-and-red vision appeared again and the girl didn't hesitate. She caught the ball in her hands. The vision disappeared. "What just happened?" RJ asked.

"I figured," Buffy walked back to the bench, "that maybe your dormant power is currently only waking up when you physically feel threatened."

"I guess you make a point." RJ nodded and clutched to the ball. "I remember that before the first two times I blacked out, I was worrying over not being able to climb the wall or fighting you since I've never done this before. But since I was aware that I was just punching bags, which didn't seem so physical hard at first, I didn't feel threatened." She rubbed her knuckles.

"Maybe if you learn how to control this, it won't be such a crutch for you while you learn at Y.E.A.R.N." Melgo concluded. "I can help you practice physically and academically when we're outside of class."

"Really?" RJ beamed. "You'd do that? But we barely just met."

"Eh, I've been here for such a long time. Barely any fun happens. At least you're giving me a brain challenge." Melgo shrugged, causing the other girls to giggle.

"Well count me in as well, laddies." She gave RJ a friendly shoulder punch. "Besides, I still need me payback for you tossing me in that barbed wire!"

"Come on!" RJ whined. "I thought we were good on this!"

"Nay!" Buffy shook her head.

"So, if we start the practicing this afternoon after classes..." Melgo began.

"C'mon, Melgo lass!" Buffy forcefully shut Melgo's textbook. "It's her first time in the real world! Maybe since it's her first day, we can save the practicing for tomorrow and do something fun this afternoon!"

RJ gasped and crossed her fingers. "Please tell me it's every girl's dream! Please tell me it's every girl's dream! Please..."

"OK! OK!" Melgo put her supplies back in her bag. "Since this is after all your first actual day in the real world, we'll officially start practicing tomorrow. And this afternoon, we'll do every girl's dream, so bring whatever cash or credit card you have on you."

"YES!" Buffy and RJ high-fived each other.

"We're going shopping at the Minalshari Mall!" Buffy squealed.


	5. First Impressions, Right Or Wrong?

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 5: First Impressions, Right Or Wrong?

"Gilliard, you are a...unique individual," Martin told Gilliard.

"Thank you." The fish boy mutant said casually.

"The way you throw your internal leftovers at people in order to turn them into abominations is quite admirable."

"You're making me blush."

"Generally, you're a scaly person that is quite annoying, but in a friend slash sibling manner and you understand me so well."

"I return the feeling."

 _DING!_

"There's just one thing I still don't understand," Martin confessed as they stepped out of the elevators. "If you understand me so well, why on Earth ARE YOU TAKING ME TO A MALL?"

Martin's angered voice echoed throughout the Minalshari Mall until it finally disappeared through the four large floors of nothing but shops, cafés, salons, and a multiplex theater. Fortunately, the shop was packed, so nobody paid attention to his screaming on the first floor.

"Now, Mart, you are dealing through a crisis in your career," Gilliard said soothingly as he dragged Martin by the arm through the first row of shops. "So I'm giving you a small vacation and taking you out for some guy time!"

"Gilliard, 'vacation' for me is defined by a good book on my bed with the fireplace burning or maybe doing Tai Shing Pek Kwar in Isla Simia." Martin looked around the mall and shivered in disgust. "Not some warehouse full of modern American propaganda."

Gilliard sighed and formed his fishy lips together in a pout while giving large pleading eyes to Martin. The latter groaned in frustration. "Fine! But this is the last time I let your fishy face get the best of me!"

"YES!" He stopped dragging Martin once they reached a directory of the mall. "So where would you like to go first? Because I know I got to buy new clothes at Très Chez Léon..."

"Why didn't you go to Smarty Mart back in London?" _Not like it would have made things better,_ Martin thought. He wasn't as crazy about discount sales as he was with his friend dragging him across the Atlantic just to go to the Minalshari Mall.

"They don't have cheap knockoffs of this." Gilliard gestured at the clothing he was wearing. "Only Très Chez Léon makes proper clothing like this, and by the way, I'm never cleaning my clothes in your house again!"

Martin rolled his eyes. "Is this about the monkey ninjas doing the laundry? That was weeks ago!"

"They shrunk _five_ of my sweaters! Because you people only wash with cold water!" Gilliard looked back at the directory before asking calmly to Martin. "You want to go to the bookstore?"

Martin sighed mentally. _Books,_ he thought. _The only true proof that sanity still exists._ "Sure. Why not?"

While the boys headed to the third floor, a nearby elevator and led Melgo, Buffy, and RJ into the first floor. RJ kept gawking at the sight of the mall. Everything had a white wall or a floor covered by reflecting gray stones, artificial palm trees and rose pots were lined up through the halls, and the ceiling had a dangling chandelier made of expensive crystals shaped like upside down horseshoes, it made the decoration look like a disco ball beehive.

"My first time in a mall..." RJ wished she could see her own eyes twinkle.

"The Minalshari Mall..." Buffy took a large inhaling breath and sighed in relief. "Yep. The smell of sweet sales, food court sodas, and expensive designer fashion... This is every girl's Olympus."

"So, where do we start?" RJ jumped in excitement. "I'm willing to try _anything_!"

"I know! How about we go to Très Chez Léon? The clothes there are so fabulous?" Buffy played with the kilt mini skirt she was wearing. What, it wasn't like she and RJ would go to the mall in their Y.E.A.R.N uniforms. Once their last class was over, they had rushed back to their residences to change. Luckily for RJ, the clothes she had worn when arriving to HenchCo were cleaned and disinfected, so she could put them on when going to the mall. She definetly needed to buy more clothes for her closet. So far the only thing she had worn outside of her apartment were an old lady's daughter's clothes and the Y.E.A.R.N uniform. She didn't want to start having issues for cleaning the same two outfits on a regular basis.

"Sounds like a plan." She nodded. "Let's do it."

"OK, but we'd better watch out for the amount of money we spend," Melgo warned as they headed to the store that was barely three feet away from them. "The mall shops will give us a 30% discount for anything we buy here since we're from HenchCo, but we still can't purchase things that cost more than one thousand dollars overall. So RJ, be careful what you purchase at Très Chez Léon. The owner always increases his products' prices depending on the client."

"Yeah, like how last week he charged Señor Senior Three into paying seven times the price of a pair of tight leather jeans that cost normally 30 bucks," Buffy pointed out as they entered the store. "Seriously, the things Léon would do just to make himself cash."

The automatic doors of Très Chez Léon opened with a nice jingle into a store with azure blue painted walls. Most of the store was occupied by silver racks full of clothes organized in categories such as 'Retro', 'Classy', 'Casual', 'Renaissance,' and 'So Expensive That You'd Make Your Mother Broke'. One part of the store was an actual small runway with the golden glittery words 'Fitness Room' hanging above a black curtain. A small chandelier made of stained glass chameleons hung from the ceiling.

"The first store I ever stepped in and it's the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in my life!" RJ yelped and clapped her hands in excitement.

"Glad to see a new _chérubin_ liking my little paradise!" Somebody popped his head from underneath the modernistic white check out counter. It was a boy, probably nineteen or so, with tanned skin and platinum blonde hair cut in a pixie hairstyle. He wore a sky blue leather jacket over a sailor tank top with teal and azure blue colors, white trousers held up by a pink belt, and brown wedged boots. Despite being obviously a guy, he still wore pink loop earrings and black eyeliner that made him look more feminine than masculine. "And look at that. Melgo Lipsky and Buffy Killigan, two of my favorite lower class clients."

"Lipsky and Killigan?" RJ looked at Melgo and Buffy, who looked unpleasantly at the boy for mentioning their last names. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with being called Lipsky or Killigan!" She tried to change the topic. "At least it's more original than being called stuff like Jackson or Kent."

"Good save." Melgo whistled in approval. She then made the introductions. "RJ, this is Camillo Leon."

" _Enchanté_." Camillo stepped out of the counter and curtsied.

"This sounds familiar..." RJ rubbed her chin before it hit her. "You don't happen to be related to Camille Leon, do you?"

"Yes, she is my mother."

"You know her?" Buffy asked RJ in surprise.

"No, but my grandma and I used to watch reruns of the show BORN TO SHOP and she got me some old Weekly Wonder magazines that I used for scrapbooking. Not my fault some of the articles had info about the ex-heiress."

"Yes, well, _Maman_ and I have our ups and downs in our little family." Camillo shrugged as he caressed a nearby rack of clothing. "See, unlike my mother, I actually bother to use my connections to coerce couturiers and fabric-makers into helping me create my designs so that I can sell them in my shop. The more expensive materials I use, the more clothing I have reserved for high-paying clients. Also a good reason for _Grandpapa_ to favor me over _Maman_."

"He actually made you the heir to his fortune and your mom with nothing? Wow, that's some tough love!" RJ commented.

"I bother to work." Camillo pointed out drily. "The only thing _Maman_ does with her talents is commit petty crimes that give her little profits that she only wastes on shopping. Why do you think my _Grandpapa_ disinherited her in the first place?" He shook his head with a grunt. "So, need some fashion, _mesdames_?"

"Actually, RJ here needs more clothing in her closet." Melgo pushed RJ forward. "She recently ran away from home."

Camillo gasped in disgust at the sight of the clothing. " _Sacrebleu,_ what on earth is this garbage?" He pinched at the blouse she was wearing and made a gagging face. "Ak! What are you, an old cat lady's daughter?"

"Ironically, these clothes belonged to an old cat lady's daughter. The old lady gave them to me after I destroyed my white clothes..." RJ began.

" _Aïe, aïe, aïe!_ " Camillo slapped himself on the face. "You wore white? _Chérubin_ , white doesn't look good on you unless you're getting married or attending an Asian funeral! Step on the runway, now!" He pointed at the runway. RJ didn't hesitate and rushed to stand on it while Camillo snapped his fingers and some woman in a black bob haircut and a dress matching Leon's tank top rushed in with a folding chair that Camillo sat on. He held his hands out and formed them together like a frame while analyzing his 'model'. "Let's see what I see," he said. "Short hair with color matching the light orange fire, light skin with a hint of fifteen years of fragility, delightful hazel eyes... I say loose the blouse or any baggy top! Léonettes!" He snapped his fingers and three other female employees resembling the first one came in and measured RJ limb by limb. "Leona, what do we have for the waist?" Camillo asked while pulling out a small notepad and pencil from his pocket.

"Rather average," one of the Léonettes said. "Six inches of separation between the midriff and chest area. Same applies for the midriff to hips area."

"I say forget light colors!" He beckoned the Léonette standing next to him. "Lenny, start bringing tryout clothing to the fitness room for our client. Go through the CASUAL aisle and start pulling out any sized long sleeved shirts with either a deep red or an end that towers the midriff by three or four inches."

"Which red do you want, sir?" Lenny asked.

"The top three should be garnet, wine, and blood."

Lenny nodded and proceeded to the aisle. Camillo went back to RJ and the remaining Léonettes. "Lana, what do we have for the legs?"

"Quite plump." Lana gently squeezed RJ's left thigh. "Yet it seems to have enough bone structure for gymnastics."

"Useful to know," Melgo pointed.

"I agree." Camillo nodded. "I say go with baggy pants for when you want to be casual like cargo pants or tight pants if you want beaus to drool for you." He then snapped and shouted. "LENNY! Add a pair of beige cargo pants and a pair of black tight jeans!"

"From Madrid or from France concerning the jeans?" Lenny shouted.

"Madrid!" He then turned to RJ. "It's essential to know which country you get your fabric from. I highly recommend Madrid for jean fabric. The Spanish models really know how to show off those curves in Andalucía. OK, let's see what else we have."

"Size six and a half in feet," a Léonette said.

"Go with teal sneakers for running and black strapped sandals for formal evenings. Lenny!"

"Smooth shoulder and collarbones."

"Concerning lingerie, I'd say go with bandeau bras, hipster underwear, and thigh long slips. And no bright colors for these! Even if she doesn't get caught wearing them, she must not be seen in nude-suggesting colors. Lenny!"

"Rather averagely built," a Léonette said before he finally dismissed them.

"Plum or black gowns for formal events." He then pointed at the curtain behind RJ and told her. "Why don't you start trying out the outfits selected for you and step back in the runway for us while we figure out the gown for you."

 _Fifteen minutes, just outside of Très Chez Léon_

Martin and Gilliard stopped right in front of Très Chez Léon, desperately panting for breaths. They had been running down three floors and pushing anyone they encountered in the escalators in order to ditch Martin's worst nightmare.

"There's about forty-seven thousand malls in the United States and this mall has the indignity of having the only Build-Your-Cuddle-Buddy Workshop that my worst nightmare goes shopping at!" Martin exclaimed. "The days I wonder why my father got DNAmy for a stalker and I got her daughter!"

"Well...you can't really blame them. With all the spy movies, ladies just love tall, dark, and mysterious British dudes," Gilliard pointed out. His voice faltered when Martin looked skeptically at him. "What?"

"CUDDLE MONKEY!" The voice of an annoying fourteen-year-old shouted from a distant hallway. Martin yelped in horror. "Save me!" He begged Gilliard. The latter quickly looked around until he spotted the entrance of Très Chez Léon. He motioned it to Martin, who gave a surrendering shrug, and the two boys made a run for it inside the fashion store. They found the owner, Camillo Léon, sitting on a folding chair while going over a notepad with two familiar girls.

"Léon!" Martin exclaimed, causing the three of them to turn towards him.

"Well if it isn't Sushi Boy and Hairy Hands Junior," Melgo Lipsky said in a mocking tone.

"Aye, how's it going?" Buffy casually greeted them.

"Bad!" Gilliard put a quick hand over Camillo's shoulder. "Listen, Amelia Hall is in the mall and we need to hide Martin until she's definetly gone!"

" _Sérieusement!_ " Camillo gasped. "The freak who wears the worst amount of pink fabric is near my shop? Oh, the horror!" He then calmed down. "Sorry, but I have to deal with my clients here. So, Melgo, concerning the long-sleeved shirts for your friend..."

"I'LL PAY FOR ANY EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE OUTFIT IN YOUR SHOP!" Martin grabbed Camillo by the jacket and shook him frantically. "BUT PLEASE, HIDE ME!"

Camillo's face brightened like people do whenever they learn they won a lot of money in the lottery. He snapped his fingers and summoned one of his Léonettes. "Lenny, push Martin Fiske into the fitting room?"

"That's your best idea?" Martin rolled his eyes as he let go of Camillo.

"CUDDLE MONKEY!"

"You know what, I'm just going to get in there." Martin jumped on the runway.

"Wait, there's..." Melgo's protestation got cut off by the doors opening. Fortunately, Martin had managed to sneak through the curtain and into the fitting room. There wasn't much in the fitting room, just two dressing cabinets with each labeled by an icon of a certain gender and racks for unwanted and desired clothing. The rack for desired clothing was full of shirts and pants, which could only mean one thing that ended up being confirmed by the ladies' dressing cabinet door opening.

"Hey, guys. About the..." He dove at her so quickly, she didn't have to time to scream. Once he forced her pack into the cabinet, he locked the door behind them. "What are...MMPH!" He covered her mouth with one hand while the other pinned her right arm behind her back as he dragged her towards a corner near the door.

"Don't. Move." He ordered her sternly through his clenched teeth. "And. Don't. Talk."

The girl trembled and nodded her head. Martin held her close while he listened quietly to the conversation behind the curtain. So far, all he could hear was Amelia asking the others none stop on whether or not they had seen her precious Cuddle Monkey, which made him want to throw up.

Meanwhile, the girl managed to use her loose hand to forcibly remove Martin's hand from her mouth. "Stalker problem?" She asked silently.

"Yes. Shut up," he snapped back quietly at her.

"Then just tell her you don't like her. Kick her if you have to!" She suggested. "But let me go!"

"If you knew anything about British etiquette, you'd know I'd be ruining my honor by physically beating a woman just because she's harassing me!"

"Well if you were _such_ a gentleman, then you wouldn't be pinning me like some pervert!"

Martin sighed in defeat. She had made a valid point. He quickly turned his hearing back to the conversation behind the curtain. So far, Amelia sounded like she was stomping her feet. The days when she seemed to not understand that she was way too young for him and that he would never act as her plush toy.

"Fine." He let go of the girl. "But stay in the cabinet and don't..."

His senses instantly froze when he finally saw her hair moving as she stepped away from him. That color...he had seen that color. That orange color flames in a fire had when going from yellow to red. That color was on the girl's hair.

 _Ha, ha, ha._ The echoing laughter from his vision hammered in his head as he looked at the girl, who was tending to her right wrist as if she thought he had hurt her. Her focus on her wrist made her unaware of the young man looking at her.

 _Caucasian skin, slender yet average figure_ , Martin mentally noted. Something felt wrong deep within his gut. For some reason, he felt an electrical motion that seemed to attract itself towards that delicate female skin covered by one of Camillo's store's red wine colored cropped top and baggy beige pants, and the fact that her navel, such a small thing that could have easily carried an oyster's pearl, was exposed. _Great Hanuman, what is going on with me_?

"Well at least you didn't bruise my..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes looked straight at his. Martin really wanted to smack himself right now. Normally, he wasn't fond of the opposite gender giving him the big eyes and gushing fangirl blush, primarily because they were only interested in his family fortune or his human features once they got over his monkey hands and feet, Another reason was Amelia Hall harassing him with her stalking.

Although he had to give it to the girl: it was quite obvious that she was currently blushing at him in a rather innocent way, as if it was the first time she met someone like him while he couldn't get over the color of her hazel eyes...

"Amelia's gone!" Camillo shouted from behind the curtain.

Martin put his hands in a praying pose. "Bless you!"

"RJ? Are you done back there yet?" Melgo called out. "We still have to pay for the clothes!"

"Coming!" The girl said. She then glanced back at Martin and made him a shooing gesture. "You know this is the ladies' dressing cabinet, right?"

"My apologies." Martin unlocked the door and quickly got out of the cabinet. The girl roughly shut the door on him while he headed out of the fitting room and back in the store. The Léonettes were packing up the clothing from the fitting room's desired rack into at the most six shopping bags. "Is Amelia gone?"

"Gone." Gilliard said while Melgo and Buffy were busy talking about payment with Camillo Léon.

Martin sighed in relief.

"Don't jump in excitement yet, Fiske!" Camillo said sternly. "You owe me!"

"Right." Martin sighed as he walked over to the counter. "What do you want me to buy from your shop?"

"Funny you should ask." Camillo pointed at Melgo and Lipsky, who gave him nasty smirks of amusement. "These lovely ladies have found this very nice dress for their friend back in the fitting room. In case the dress does fit, they'll take it and _you_ have to pay for it."

"You mean that halter gown?" Gilliard asked. "The one that no woman could put on unless they first tightened their waist with a corset?"

"Yes." Camillo grumbled. "It's _si compliqué_ to find one client that can wear the dress without having to wear a corset. Otherwise it'll damage it or make others think that the wearer wants to lose weight."

"Monsieur Léon!" One of the Léonettes emerged from the curtain. "The dress, it fits like a glove!"

"Until now!" Camillo jumped over the counter and made a run for the runway along with Melgo and Buffy. Martin and Gilliard glanced at each other before shrugging and joining them. Two Léonettes pulled the curtain, revealing the girl he had run into now dressed in a plum colored gown with black off shoulder straps shining with patched emeralds the size of a Japanese marble.

"It's perfect! Finally, my Robe De Twilight fits like a glove!" Camillo clapped his hands in hysterical joy before clearing up his throat and speaking seriously. "Just make sure you tie up your hair whenever you wear that dress to parties, _chérubin_. The Robe De Twilight reveals the shoulders so well, no one will notice you're average-built."

"Can she wear it with any jewelry?" Melgo asked Camillo.

"Well, it's kinda tricky, _chérubin_. The dress itself is high quality that the only matching accessory would be authentic diamonds! Ugh! If I weren't against thieving, I bet stealing the Hope Diamond necklace would be perfect for the dress!"

Martin was ignoring the conversation and watching the girl walk her way back to the fitting room to change. Mentally speaking, he had to agree that the gown looked rather lovely on her. Seeing the silk move like its white relative in his vision...

 _Control yourself, Martin!_ He screamed to himself. _You're only doing this because Camillo Léon hid you from Amelia!_

As if reading his find, Camillo then spoke to Martin. "Melgo and Buffy have already paid for the other purchases, but you Fiske owe me the amount of 560 dollars," he said. "429.78 if you want the equivalent in British currency."

This popped Martin's bubble. "You're charging me close to 430 pounds just for ONE DRESS?" He exclaimed.

"Was it part of the 'So Expensive That You'd Make Your Mother Broke' section?" Gilliard looked at Buffy, go gave a small nod.

"We had an agreement, Fiske!" Camillo said sternly. "You promised to buy anything from my store in exchange for me hiding you from DNAmy's freak of a daughter, so pay it up with that dress!"

"At such a price?" Martin scoffed. "I'd rather shave the hair on my monkey hands than pay for such a silly dress!"

"Ahem."

The boys' argument dissolved when they saw RJ back from the fitting room, this time wearing the black blouse and jeans she had worn when first stepping in the store. Judging by the cold expression she was giving Martin, it was obvious that she overheard the argument.

"Say, Melgo, what's the next shop you and Buffy were thinking about?" she asked while jumping off the runway.

"How does the smoothie shack sound?" Melgo asked, exchanging a similar glance against Martin.

"Aye, I could really use a strawberry banana shake right about now." Buffy nodded while she picked two of their shopping bags, with Melgo and RJ imitating the same thing. The latter quickly spoke to Camillo. "Camillo, I really appreciate what you did for helping me choose clothes..." She said gratefully.

"Anytime." He nodded.

"But frankly, I'd rather go to a formal event in my Y.E.A.R.N uniform than have some British aristocratic snob pay for a dress. Good day." She then flipped away and joined the other two girls in leaving the store. Camillo just pinched his nose in frustration and told Gilliard to make sure Martin Fiske never stepped into Très Chez Léon ever again while Martin himself couldn't help but feel his cheeks burning red with anger.

 _Back in England, close to 11pm_

"How dare she?" Martin kicked the front door of his castle open and stomped through his home's hallways in frustration.

"Martin? Why are you home so late?" Monkey Fist demanded when he and his wife ran into their son as he made his way up the staircase.

"GOODNIGHT!" Martin shouted. Ignoring his parents' demands to explain himself, he marched back to his room and slammed the door, causing the walls to shake. Normally, he'd bother to take a shower before going to sleep, but he was too frustrated, which caused him to just toss his clothes onto the floor and jump on his bed while only wearing his trunks. As the fire in his fireplace cracked, giving heat in his cold, dark room, he mumbled to himself through his teeth in frustration.

"British aristocratic snob... Who does this American vixen think she is?" Just being called a snob vexed him so much. If that girl knew anything about British men mixed with snobs, she'd see that the Fiskes were anything but snobs. Frankly, if Martin were such a men, he would have kicked Gilliard out of his castle years ago or he wouldn't bother to barely interact with Gilliard's 'low class' peers. Well, not like Martin had many social interactions other than Gilliard...

A gentle knock came from the other side of the door, indicating that his mother wanted to come in. Not wanting her to see him in his state, Martin quickly buried himself under his bed sheets and feigned to sleep, but nothing could fool the Simian Witch.

"Clothes on the floor, no shower taken, and bed curtains not pulled..." She sat near her son so that his back faced her and put a hand on his shoulder. "Care to tell your mother what's going on?"

He said nothing at all but eventually sighed and sat upstraight, using his pillows as cushion for his back. "Mother, do you think that I'm a British aristocratic snob?" He asked bluntly.

"No." She ran her fingers though his black hair. "But I do think you're very antisocial to people outside your circle."

"Mother..." But she didn't let him finish.

"Believe me, my son, I understand that you want to follow our family's legacy of simian world domination, and your father and I couldn't be more prouder of you," she told him, "but you've put so much dedication into it, you don't even know what it's like to enjoy life. You don't even know how to have friends other than Gilliard." She paused and sighed. "You don't know how to love others as much as you love me and your father." She leaned down and gave him a motherly peck on the forehead. "Try to get some sleep. We'll talk more about it tomorrow."

"Good night, Mother."

Using her magic, the Simian Witch pulled the curtains of the canopy bed and silently closed the door, leaving her son some peace in order to sleep. But after close to two hours of tossing, turning, and just lying on his bed while looking at the top of his canopy bed, Martin just gave up. He couldn't close his eyes and stay asleep once without seeing RJ's face glowing in the dark.

He tried to get up and walk around his room to clear his mind, but the moment his feet touched the floor, the fire in his fireplace glowed like the color of the girl's hair, frustrating him even more that he grabbed a pitcher of cold water sitting on his nightstand and tossed the water into the flames, killing them and leaving Martin in an officially cold and dark room.

"I must be going mad." He sat back in his bed and fidgeted his fingers, creating a crystal ball that stood on the tip of his fingers. "Show me the girl," he told it. He watched as the orb glowed with red ghostly monkeys and cleared into the view of an apartment. A door opened, releasing steam and RJ came out, wearing a white bathrobe over her still soaking body. She was walking towards her small living room, where she caught Melgo flipping through some sort of book.

' _Melgo, what are you doing with my scrapbook?_ ' RJ asked so calmly.

' _Sorry._ ' Melgo gave her the book back and watched RJ put it back in a shelf full of books, which was the only busy shelf out of all the dozens she had in her apartment. ' _I couldn't help myself. It was already there when I started stacking the books you purchased back at the mall. So that was the scrapbook you told me about?_ '

Martin looked at the image of RJ sighing, _'Yeah. My only reminder of my old life.'_ She closed the blinds of her window revealing HenchCo and the Minalshari at nighttime. _'Melgo, how long do you think I have before I get caught?_ '

' _Well by now your grandma must have seen at some point that you managed to run away from home, but since she and your neglectful folks managed to keep your existence unknown to the public, not much information can be given to the authorities to search you. Even if Team Possible still existed, they wouldn't be able to find you if they have nothing like clues on where you can go, an online health profile that can be used to track you via satellite,'_ Melgo said. _'And with normal people, once they can't find their missing kid after a week and a half or so, they give up with the conclusion that the kid is either dead or doesn't want to be found for good._ '

The girls were lucky they didn't know Martin was spying on them. "Running away from home, uh?" Martin arched an eyebrow. "RJ really is a vixen."

' _Well, that's a relief._ ' RJ now sat on her, folding her legs together in order to reveal their bare skin, which just frustrated Martin even more. ' _So much has happened to me today. Leaving home, joining Y.E.A.R.N, meeting you and Buffy, going to the mall_...' She giggled. ' _How many cups of alcohol do you think Buffy's been drinking now ever since we left her at the Irish pub?_ '

' _Honestly, RJ, I've known Buffy as far as my childhood goes and no cup of bourbon can defeat the second maddest golfer in the world,'_ Melgo chuckled. ' _But honestly, you mouthing off Fiske? That was epic!_ '

Martin gritted his teeth in anger.

' _Well he had it coming._ ' RJ shrugged. ' _He's rude, he speaks only with violence, he acted like a spoiled brat towards Camillo, and he burst into my dressing cabinet!_ '

He gasped in shock. It was already bad that she called him a British aristocratic snob, but going as far as to call him rude and a spoiled brat? If it weren't for her or Camillo's stupid prices, he would have spoiled her with that silly dress!

He continued to watch the events enrolling within the crystal, including the part where Melgo was laughing hard. ' _He_ _ **burst**_ _into your dressing room? That's even more priceless! If no one knew him as the apathetic statue he is, I would have mistaken his move as an attempt to make out with you!_ '

' _Make what with me?_ ' RJ asked in confusion, which sort of amused Martin. Right there, he had just seen evidence that the American vixen was quite naive after all. She didn't even understand the meaning of a common teen slang that even _he_ knew the meaning.

Melgo rolled her eyes. ' _See, this is what I was worried about when he first made a run for it to the fitting room! If he weren't such a British gentleman, he could have used your naivety against you! You'd be shocked, RJ, but not all bad guys, especially the_ _ **males**_ _, are as behaved as those you've met so far. Some villains out there are professional slave dealers or perverts that can make easy victims out of weak women and no one will care what happens to them!_ ' She calmed down when she saw the way she was freaking out RJ. ' _All I'm saying is that if it weren't Martin Fiske who burst into your cabinet but some other indecent guy, I'd be taking you to a psychiatrist right.'_

 _'Note taken. If a guy tries to flirt with me, I'll kick him where it hurts._ ' She threw a pillow at Melgo, who caught it and joined her into a pillow fight. ' _Besides, I highly doubt I'm the right type for the British aristocratic snob. He's not even my type, if I have any.'_

Martin crushed the ball in his hand, reducing it into dust that fell onto his bed sheet like a rain of pixie dust. "So we both aren't the other's type," he muttered to himself as he laid in his bed and finally fell asleep. "I guess that settles it."


	6. Training For The First Heist

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 6: Training For The First Heist

An annoying buzzing sound echoed in her head, making her mumble as it woke her up from her sleep. When her eyes started to blink their way to full consciousness, she almost believed that she was back in her grandmother's penthouse apartment and that she had dreamed the entire thing of going to HenchCo, learning at Y.E.A.R.N, meeting actual teenagers, going shopping to the mall, and encountering a British aristocratic snob with unusual hairy hands.

Fortunately, when her vision cleared and showed that she was still in her new residence and that she was curled up in her bed due to its size, RJ saw that she hadn't dreamed. She mustered up the strength to sit up on her bed and hit the alarm clock that made irritating sounds, like it was telling her in a ticking language: 'Wake up, RJ! First time you actually wake up somewhere outside your bird nest!'

"Yeah, I don't need the reminder," she said out loud. She stretched her arms up and walked over to the windows and pushed the curtains. This caused her room to be lit up by the so realistic sunrise rays that illuminated the sky at 6am. True, RJ knew that the sky out there was artificial, but just seeing it very close from a ground level felt so...warm.

RJ quickly took a shower, dried up, and put on her uniform. As she took her supplies with her and left her residence to go grab breakfast, she couldn't help but scowl in displeasure as she sniffed herself. Even after she had washed her uniform and taken at least two showers, she still had that scent of lavender on her, and it still didn't disappear when she arrived to the cafeteria and got herself served with a bowl of oatmeal and hot chocolate. Melgo and Buffy were already waiting for her at a table.

"Seriously, how long do I have until this odor comes off?" RJ asked once she sat down.

"If you're lucky, I'd say three more days minimum," Buffy said while her mouth was still full of bacon slices. As far as RJ ended up learning, Buffy was an extreme carnivore.

"So, what did you think of your first night sleeping in a different bed?" Melgo looked up from her notebook on Criminal Psychology, one of the classes taught by HenchCo in Y.E.A.R.N.

"Both weird and great," RJ said as she stirred through her bowl of oatmeal. "It's like sleeping in a bundle of pillows only half the size of my original bed. I kind had to curl up." She sighed before cracking up a grin. "Well, can't wait for Day Number Two!"

"Oy, Day Number Two." Buffy shook her head. "Visit with the heist advisor."

RJ nearly choked on her oatmeal. "H...Heist advisor?"

"You mean Jack Hench didn't tell you? Unbelievable!" Melgo pinched her nose in frustration and gave out the explanations. "RJ, one of the points of Y.E.A.R.N training aspiring youth into possible villains is to, you know, do evil deeds. Just because you take some evil classes doesn't prove to other villains that you're worth hiring. You need to show evil in action. That's the purpose of heists."

"So, I'm going to get advice on...how to steal?" RJ asked.

"Go to page 34 of Criminal Psychology."

RJ nodded and followed Melgo's instruction. She pulled out the thick book of Criminal Psychology and flipped the pages until she reached page 34. "'The Seven Levels of Crime,'" she read out loud. "'These are the most common crimes performed by professional villains. The Seven Levels of Crime go under the following order: robbery, kidnapping, murder, mercenary, illegal trafficking, underground crime, and global domination.'"

"OK, stop right there." Melgo held out the hand telling RJ to pause in her reading. "See, these are the top seven most committed crimes, each linked to a villain's certain evil plan. Right now, HenchCo's hoping to train us to go close enough to be mercenaries, which is pretty much the point of henchmen: getting hired and paid to do the dirty work. But to get there, we need to be able to execute the first two stages."

"Stealing and kidnapping," Buffy nodded. "Sadly, me and Melgo are still working on the entire kidnapping level."

"Right now, _you_ need to worry about getting into the first level. Robbery," Melgo told RJ. "During your meeting with the heist advisor, he or she is going to ask you what you'd like to steal, and if it's valuable and heavily guarded, you'll get a permit to get special training to help you prepare for the heist, like the basic tools of the trade..."

"How to avoid the intense security system," Buffy joined in.

"The hounds," Melgo added.

"Transportation to the target's location."

RJ felt her skin sweating. Evidently, evil was going to be harder than she expected. "So, what did _you guys_ steal on your first heists?"

"Eh." Buffy shrugged. "Gold from Fort Knox."

"Military tank blueprints." Melgo rolled her eyes. "And thanks to all authorities gluing their eyes in space stations, no one will ever remember us."

"Aye! I still can't believe that they didn't notice the golden painted bricks I placed in them vaults when I stole ten gold bricks from Knox!" Buffy grumbled. "Not one wanted poster!" She looked at RJ. "Please do a better job than I. What would _you_ steal?"

"Well..." RJ tried to think. What _would_ she steal that was valuable and heavily guarded? For one, robbing a bank seemed to cliché and she knew that robbing from Fort Knox or a military base was too intense for her. Maybe if she tried robbing from a museum... "What if I stole a diamond? Like, an authentic, pure diamond worth lots of cash that would make me rich?"

"An authentic diamond? Not a bad start." Melgo gave an approving nod before she proceeded to drink her coffee. "But what kind of diamond is the trickiest question. Do you have any in mind?"

RJ tried to think until she remembered words from Camillo Léon echoing in her head back when she tried out that plum dress at Très Chez Léon.

 _Ugh! If I weren't against thieving, I bet stealing the Hope Diamond necklace would be perfect for the dress!_

"What about... Hope Diamond?"

Melgo froze in the middle of her drinking and spit her entire beverage on Buffy, who looked very displeased. "You...you want to steal Hope Diamond?"

"Why not?" RJ asked. "It's valuable with a 42.52 carats weight and an estimated value of 250 million American dollars, and must be heavily guarded since it's a permanent, treasured exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. I learned it through a documentary."

"Such a valuable museum treasure...you'd have to be the most wanted criminal in the country just for stealing that jewel." Buffy fist-bumped RJ. "Go for it!"

"Well, I guess it's a whole lot better than that cookie recipe Mom tried to steal once..." Melgo shrugged. Buffy and RJ looked at her in confusion. "I don't want to talk about it," she said as they got up to throw away their leftovers.

"Granny Crockett's?" RJ guessed.

"Let me guess, another documentary?"

"Nope, play set this time." They got inside the elevator. "So, how long does it usually take for training for the first heist?" RJ asked as the elevator went up.

"Based on your effectiveness and the crime's danger level, it's normally a maximum of one week," Melgo said. "But maybe with that 'dormant power' of yours, you might _just_ be able to complete the training before next Wednesday. I say we meet up after class and take one of the jets. I know a good place to train _outside_."

The elevator doors opened. The girls yelped when they saw Mr. Barkin standing in front of them, arms crossed and scowl up, as if he waited hours for them to get here. "Seriously, Mr. B!" Buffy complained. "Are you trying to give heart attacks?"

"I'll give you one if you don't get to class on time. MOVE IT, PEOPLE!" His scream made Buffy and Melgo jerk up and make a run for it, but he blocked RJ's path, preventing her from catching up with them. "RJ, where do you think you're going?"

"Physical Training class?" RJ pointed at the direction her friends took.

"But then you'd be missing out on your heist advising session?" He pointed smugly at his wristwatch. "Now don't worry, you'll still have time to catch your class."

 _Minutes later_

"Alright, let's get this started."

Mr. Barkin had taken RJ to a small office for her heist advising session. Unlike Jack Hench's large office, this one was as small as her old room, with just one desk, three chairs, two sets of cabinets full of papers, a blind-covered window, and a few framed pictures on the wall.

" _You're_ my heist advisor?" RJ frowned at Mr. Barkin as he sat on the other side of the desk and ran through her current, small record.

"Affirmative. Ever since Ms. Aydunkar took too many aspirins after Lipsky's heist declaration to steal ten different monster truck engines, she's retired from her post and now works as a zookeeper in Hoboken, so I'm covering her post."

 _Wow_ , RJ thought to herself. _At one point, Melgo's going to have to introduce me to her cousin._ "I'm sorry, but before my brain gets scrambled...How on earth can you substitute both a mad scientist and a robbery advisor?"

"I took the major in college," he shrugged. "Everyone in the Barkin family has that major."

"There's a major for substitution?"

"No. Multi-performance." He proudly pointed at one of his framed pictures, which was a diploma proving that he graduated from the Lowerton Community College with a major in Multi-performance and a minor in Synchronized swimming.

"Wow. Who knew these programs existed?" RJ remarked.

"Alright, let's get back to business." Barkin started taking notes on a sheet of paper. "What would you like to steal on your very first heist?"

"Well, after some consideration, I thought I'd steal a diamond."

"Ah, the diamond theft. A crime classic," Mr. Barkin sighed with a big smile stamped on his face. "Frankly, I prefer the classic crimes over the over-the-top heists your classmates requested when _they_ had to do their first heists."

"Melgo and Buffy told me that they tried to steal from a military base and Fort Knox. I'm just shocked they aren't wanted by authorities."

"Well, ever since the alien invasion of 2007, authorities are more worried about getting their troupes ready in case ET and Co come back. The only villain out there who actually gets _any_ attention from the police from at least seven different countries is Martin Fiske."

 _Great_ , RJ thought sourly. _The British aristocratic snob._ "So, concerning my heist," she changed the subject. "I thought I'd steal Hope Diamond."

Barkin almost broke his pencil. "That blue gemstone necklace at the Smithsonian?"

"Yep."

"Stealing it would be the biggest scandal in the nation's capital," he said suspiciously.

"I feel like I'm up to it," RJ said with a tone of confidence.

"You'd have to go through the guards."

"I can learn."

"Avoid getting caught by the infrared security lasers, if you decide to strike at night."

"Seriously? Why not steal at daytime once you create a diversion?"

"Figure out how to break the bulletproof glass."

"OK."

"Stubborn and determined, I see." Barkin jot down the notes. "Well, credit given for your creativity on heist selection and ambition. I'll have the papers sent to your professors and they will figure out how to help you train you for it."

 _Later, in Physical Training_

Normally, favoritism is something that teachers avoid doing because once a student becomes their favorite, everyone starts becoming jealous of the prized student to the point that determination or jealousy intensifies.

For the last few years at Y.E.A.R.N, none of the members thought of being jealous at each other. With the world failing to notice them doing something as petty as robbing a bank, they'd been sort of going in the lax zone. But ever since the new member joined in, the professors seemed to have preferred taking a shine on her. Rumors had gone around that Jack Hench had received a report from RJ's heist advisor and ordered the professors to give her advanced training. The other Y.E.A.R.N members weren't allowed to know what the heist was, but their jealousy was pretty evident. While they were running laps outside with their normal professor, RJ was being trained in an smaller, more advanced indoor facility in HenchCo, with a different professor while Buffy and Melgo, being already ahead of the other members, were tasked as personal coaches as well.

"Whether you plan to steal that diamond in the middle of the day or of the night, you need to be wary of the security protocols, crowd factor, and how to escape," the professor said as she led RJ into the facility, which was an empty room full of nothing but four walls, a ceiling, and a floor made of white painted metal. At the far end of the right wall, there was a glass window, revealing a small office full of computers and desks. The professor pointed at that window. "From that control room, we can see you in this room and manipulate both the physical and virtual obstacles that we will put out for you." Buffy and Melgo waved from the control room, receiving a small wave back from RJ until the professor got the latter's attention back by placing some black goggles over her eyes.

"What are these for?" RJ blinked through the lenses, making sure that she could see clearly.

"These are the training prototypes HenchCo uses to train henchmen," the professor explained. "With the microchips installed on the straps, the control room can perceive the transmitted brain frequencies you have when in action or when facing an obstacle."

"So, it's to test things like nervous reactions and heart rates?" RJ asked.

"Exactly. And with the lenses, we can see what you see. Overall, this helps us see how your body functions when in danger and determine how we can help _evolve_ it during training. Good luck." She pushed RJ into the white room. RJ turned to look back, but the door she had come from had camouflaged into her surrounding.

A platform suddenly elevated at the center of the room and exposed a white cylinder holding a white sphere, and in it, a phony duplicate of the Hope Diamond. _That's it?_ RJ thought. _They just want me to go get the phony necklace?_ This sounded too easy for her.

She began to put a foot forward until she stopped. The same blue-and-red vision she had gotten yesterday appeared. Soon enough, the entire room turned into a blue hue, except for the fact that she was now seeing red lines blocking her path and crossing each other.

Red laser beams, a classic security system. Without even realizing what she was doing, RJ hopped, dodged, and slipped her way through the first rays, paused when she met two moving rays and quickly dodged them, and once she made her way to the false Hope Diamond exhibit, she merely gave a hard punch at the glass, shattering it to pieces. The moment the necklace was in her hands, the two-colored vision disappeared, leaving RJ confused.

Meanwhile, the diagnosis was being done in the control room.

"Did you guys see that?" Melgo pointed at the screen that received the transmits of the goggles RJ was wearing and showed in full detail the blue-and-red vision that the ginger blonde girl was having.

"Indeed. Her heart rate suddenly increased while she was in that state," one of the computer attendants said. "It has an apparent effect on her nerves as well."

"So she has a power that takes over her," the professor noted. "And it seems to give her infrared vision. Very practical should she ever deal with a similar security system."

"Aye, and have you seen her flexibility?" Buffy whistled in amazement. "If she had been an animal, I'd have mistaken her for a monkey!"

Melgo felt like she had been hit by electricity while sitting on a fitting chair. Buffy's words echoed in her head, making her think of an insane possibility.

"I need to go do some aside research!" Melgo made a run for the door. "Buffy, keep an eye on RJ!"

"Surely you aren't going to miss the next class!" Buffy protested. "What will I do of her?"

"I don't know! Teach her how to make an exploding golf ball or something!" Melgo made a run through the hallways and straight to the private hangar where HenchCo allowed her to park her personal flying car. With the power of mad science on her side, she flew five hours and a half faster than a normal car across the state toward Middleton. She knew that the most dreadful thing on earth would attract the sole person she needed help from right now.

Once the Tri-City Convention Center came in sight, she parked her flying car in the alley and managed to sneak her way through the crowd of people who were insane enough to come all the way here for the Cuddle Buddy Convention.

"OK," she spoke to herself as she looked through the crowd of happy kids and creepy middle-aged collectors. "If I were a fourteen-year-old girl wearing tons of pink and crazy about the Otterfly Cuddle Buddy, where would I be?"

Melgo didn't have to think long. After turning her head at forty-five degrees to her left, she caught the target coincidentally gushing over a stand full of nothing but otterfly Cuddle Buddies. She smirked and walked over the stand.

"Amelia," she said with a small nod.

The daughter of DNAmy turned to look at her. "Well, it's the meanie Melgo. What can I do for you?"

"You're still angry about Camillo kicking you out of his shop yesterday?"

"Yep. And trust me, nothing will make me forget about it... Except for all this otterfly wonderland!" She screamed in join as she hugged one of the upper body sized otterfly plush toys.

"Wow." Melgo pulled out the tone she usually used to bribe people. "Because, funny story is, I felt bad about what happened yesterday and I want to make it up to you." She turned Amelia by the shoulder. "Here's the deal. I'll buy you _anything_ you want from this stand, and in return, you've got to harass Martin Fiske for me."

Amelia's eyes widened like those of characters in an anime. "You're putting me in a scheme that mixes my two favorite hobbies!" She paused. "Wait, why would you want me to harass my Cuddle Monkey?"

Melgo quickly pulled Amelia away from the stand and behind a pillar. Once she made sure nobody else was listening, she explained to Amelia. "Look, I need to steal any book from Monkey Fist's library that talks about the basics of Monkey Kung Fu. I can't ask the Fiskes if I can borrow it because they get picky whenever people ask to borrow their manuscripts. So, I need you to distract them by harassing the family's heir while I search and steal any book that might relate with what I need!"

"So why don't you just steal the manuscript on the 150 techniques of Tai Shing Pek Kwar?" Amelia asked. "My Cuddle Monkey has a hidden safe under his bed where he hides any book he reads on a regular basis." She blushed. "Usually it's when he does his evening warm-ups...shirtless."

"You've been using the Fly-On-The-Wall camera from Gemini, haven't you?" Melgo rolled her eyes.

"Just once until one of the monkey ninjas swatted it since, you know, it thought it was an actual fly. So, just to be clear, you want me to distract Cuddle Monkey while you snoop through his room?"

"Yes, and in return, I'll buy you anything from the otterfly stand." Melgo personally wished that Amelia wasn't going to tell her to buy that expensive mobile with blue crystal decorations shaped like Otterfly Picassos.

"Are you kidding?" Amelia gleefully hugged Melgo. "Consider this a free service."

 _Later, at the Fiske Estate_

 _This is getting really frustrating_ , Martin thought. He was in room, sitting in one of his armchairs and reading one of his books about Simian Sorcery Mysteries while also checking on a crystal ball resting on his lap.

Normally, Martin had a list of things frustrating him like family pressure, Gilliard's wise-cracking pranks, _most surely_ Amelia Hall's stalking nature, and those stupid claims about democracy, but what he was experiencing was _beyond_ frustrating. Not one mere minute went by without him thinking of that American vixen. He didn't understand why she appealed him so much despite the evident fact that she disliked him and he shared the mutual distaste.

So, why? Why was she bringing him in like a magnet? He had seen many other girls to know what they looked like and none interested him, not even the ones dolling up at every hour. So why was this below average one cursing him with such...such...

He didn't know what he was being cursed with, which is why he was reading this book on Simian Sorcery Mysteries. Speaking of which, a page in particular distracted him from his pain.

"That's odd. Why would a book on Simian Sorcery Mysteries talk about the Rosetta Stone?" Martin read the page. "'According to some ancient sages, descendants of the followers of Toshimu have travelled all the way to Ancient Egypt before the invasion of the Romans. Legends say that one of the descendants hid a secret spell within the hieroglyphics inscribed on the Rosetta Stone." His eyes widened and looked away from the page once he read the last sentence. "A secret Mystical Monkey spell that makes any female affected by it give the male caster exactly what he deserves to have!" He put the book aside and grabbed the crystal ball. Using all his inner energy to summon what he really deserves, the crystal ball did its magic and showed Martin an image of RJ. Not an image of her right now as she is, but an idealized version of her. She was laying on a large red bed fit for a king and she herself was wearing a white strapless bra and matching mini skirt, which revealed her bare fragile skin covered with golden jewels. A hand supported her ginger blonde mane while the other rested on top of her right hip and made a motioning gesture, as if this Venus knew that Martin was watching her and was beckoning him to come join her.

"It makes sense!" He jumped off his seat while still holding on to the crystal ball. "This vixen plagues me because she's _supposed_ to be mine! My mother and Gilliard's claims about me needing a female partner weren't lies! As a destined Monkey King and master, I need exactly what is needed to carry on my legacy! A queen!" He glared at the crystal ball's depiction of RJ vilely. "Believe me, RJ, the moment I get my hands on that formula, you will be mine and nobody else will take you from me!"

A splashing sound was heard, causing him to lose his attention from the crystal ball and notice that water fell down his chimney and turned off the fire in his fireplace. He rolled his eyes in frustration and dissolved the image of the crystal. "Gilliard, I swear if this is another one of your ideas of a stupid joke, this one is lower than hilarious!" He put the crystal on top of the fireplace, only to jump and widen his eyes in horror when he saw the most horrifying creature sticking her head upside down and giving him a sickly grin.

"CUDDLE MONKEY!" Amelia Hall shouted.

"MOOOOOOTTTTTTTHHHHHHHEEEEEER!" Martin screamed hysterically and made a run for the door. "Wait for me, sugar boogers!" Amelia jumped out of the chimney and ran after him as well. Seconds later, somebody else fell down the chimney and landed in Martin's room, her skin now covered in soot.

"I think now I understand why Santa Claus doesn't exist," Melgo coughed as she got up. "With all that soot, he'd be having pneumonia!" She looked around the room until she caught sight of the snob's large bed. She rushed and knelt by its side, feeling the surprisingly clean surface until she felt a wooden box and pulled it out. It was a wooden box, very simple, with a golden lock shaped like a monkey doing kung fu. Melgo placed a finger on the lock. The finger glowed with a green plasma light, causing the lock to warm up and give in, opening itself and letting Melgo open the box full of small books the size of a school agenda.

"OK, let's see what Hairy Hands' got." She searched through the titles. " _Toshimu, a Tai Shing Pek Kwar Biography_. No, not it. _Seven Areas Where A Monkey Shouldn't Do Acupuncture_. That just sounds wrong. Wow, who knew the British snob actually read magazines about early 21st century boy bands. Bingo!" She pulled out a small manuscript with a red cover and golden handwriting. It was big and thin enough to match her laptop. " _150 Techniques of Tai Shing Pek Kwar. Warning, this book contains techniques of kung fu ranging from basic to highly advanced. Must not be performed around toddlers!_ This is it!"

She locked the box and slipped it back under the bed. She then proceeded to take the book with her and make a run for the fireplace, where she used her grappling gun to pull herself up the chimney and onto the roof, where she had parked her flying car. After jumping onto her vehicle, she turned on the stealth mode and managed to pick up Amelia, who managed to ditch the Fiskes throwing actual pitchforks at her and ran into the moats, and once she was sure that they couldn't see them, she let Melgo pick her up.

"Did you find it?" Amelia asked after Melgo gave her a towel to dry with during their flight.

"Yep. Thanks again, Amelia. I'll drop you off at the Cuddle Buddy Convention," Melgo said gratefully.

"Eh. It's OK. I got a lot better." Amelia pulled out a black martial art shirt and a glass jar containing a patch of black monkey hair. "Check it! While I was distracting the Fiskes, I managed to snatch a piece of my Cuddle Monkey's hand hair and one of his dad's shirts from their laundry room. That shirt will be a great gift for my mom."

"I won't judge." Personally, Melgo wanted to say that she found this sick on all levels as she flew them all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, but she didn't. After all, she had the book.

 _Meanwhile_

Martin grumbled in frustration as he passed the vacuum cleaner through his room while his father placed a net in the chimney. "This time, none of the Halls will be going through our chimneys!" Monkey Fist said once the metal net was in place. "Of all the absurd things I've seen DNAmy do, her daughter thinks she's Saint Nick!"

"And the soot she placed all over my room!" Martin shivered in disgust as he finished vacuuming. "I don't even want to know why she placed soot near my bed!"

Monkey Fist covered his mouth in disgust. "I think I'm going to be sick!" He ran out of his son's room. The moment Martin unplugged the housecleaning device, he could hear the supervillain he had for a father throwing up in the bathroom down the hall. Sighing in frustration, he pushed one of the bricks on the wall, causing others to move and create an entrance towards a secret move. Just another one of those joys you get for living in a castle: secret entrances that no authority could find.

Martin walked into his small secret laboratory. The scent of cabinets full of exotic herbs and the metal from ancient cauldrons was like a perfume for him. After all, he was a descendant of a long line of Simian Witches. Performing Monkey Witchcraft was in his nature, so pray do ask him why he shouldn't have his own small lab to craft potions and perform spells.

Despite the magic-related supplies filling this room, Martin still possessed a computer in case of emergencies. He sat in front of the device and started tapping very quickly on the keypad until he found what he was looking for, leading him to open FaceTime and call Gilliard, who was out bowling.

"Gilliard, where's your bowling alley?"

" _Near the M6 highway_ ," Gilliard said. " _Why?_ "

"Because I'm going to pick you up with my father's plane," Martin said. "We're going to the British Museum. I'll tell you on the way."

" _Great. Can't wait to see what we're going to steal_!" Gilliard said giddily before hanging up, leaving Martin to snicker to himself and rub his monkey hands together.

"I find the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum, I find the secret formula it contains, and I'll use it on the American vixen. Once that's done, she'll have to give me what I deserve," he declared. "I do hope you know how to swallow your ego, RJ, because once I use the formula on you, you'll be mine and mine alone!"


	7. Power Over The Canyon

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 7: Power Over The Canyon

If RJ had to give a nickel for all the things she did today through the trainings established by her professors to prepare her for the Hope Diamond heist, she would have given a hundred nickels to Melgo for coming up with the most original way to train outside of Y.E.A.R.N: training in the middle of the Grand Canyon. Back when she was still stuck in her penthouse apartment, she always thought that the Grand Canyon would be one of those great landmarks that she would want to visit as a tourist. She never imagined standing at the heart of it, away from the eyes of any tourist, discarding her boots and gloves as Melgo requested while the latter gave her personal training. Buffy didn't come since A, she had a Skype appointment with her father right at this moment, and B, she wasn't a big fan of the American dry desert weather.

RJ couldn't blame Buffy. Aside from the cool spring weather of Colorado she encountered while going to HenchCo, RJ was experiencing dry, hot weather with heat that made her skin sweat more than she did in the advanced Physical Training Room and caused her bare feet to be covered by red dirt.

"I got this book that should help us control your power," Melgo pulled out the book she had stolen from the Fiske Estate. Naturally, she didn't tell RJ that she stole it. "I managed to find it at an old bookshop in the Minalshari."

"How on earth is a book about Monkey Kung Fu going to help me harness my power?" RJ asked skeptically as she quickly flipped through the pages. "Wow. The techniques are described in both English and Japanese."

"When we were observing you through the computers during the Physical Training session, we noticed that you displayed an unusual agility when your power took over," Melgo explained. "Then when one of the crew members said that you moved in a simian fashion, it reminded me of an old mystical power harnessed by few individuals who perform Tai Shing Pek Kwar."

"Seriously? You assume that I might have some sort of mystical power just because of one mere suggestion?" RJ looked at the first pages discussing the basic steps.

"This is not a joke, RJ! The power _does_ exist!" Melgo forcefully closed the book to get the ginger blonde's attention. "So far, all the villain community knows that only Monkey Fist and his family harness the power and they _do not_ like the idea of others having that power they call Mystical Monkey Power!"

"Monkey Fist?" RJ raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute, why does it sound close to Martin Fiske? You know, the British aristocratic snob?"

"Because Martin Fiske is Monkey Fist's son. The villain's name is an anagram for his original name, Monty Fiske, the former archaeologist and leading expert on all things simian...Look, the point is, Fiske family, very selfish. If it's true that you might be born with the power, they'll see you as competition and try to kill you!"

RJ gulped. "I hope it turns out that I don't have it."

"That's why we're going to use this book to see if you do harness it." Melgo opened the book. "It says here in the first chapter that the few practitioners of Monkey Kung Fu who possess the power are much capable of self-awareness and discipline when they use the martial art to control the power." She placed the open book on the ground and used her bag to keep the wind from blowing the pages away from the one they were using. "Keep your knees apart."

RJ widened the space between her legs.

"Fold those legs."

RJ bent down as if her legs were folding like those of a frog swimming.

"Imagine forming a triangle with your arms and your head is the top of the triangle."

"Like this?" RJ held her hands together while forming the triangle shape as Melgo instructed. The latter nodded and made RJ's hand form a circle that rested near her stomach.

"OK. We are covering the five main chi areas that Tai Shing Pek Kwar requires." Melgo pointed at RJ's elbows and knees. "The two physical chis for flexibility." She then pointed at the girl's forehead, chest, and stomach. "The three emotional chis: mental discipline, emotional control, and energy harvesting."

She then walked five feet away from RJ until it left the two girls to confront each other. "I'm going to attack you with all I have. Try to focus that power's energy into that circle area near your stomach!"

"Wait, how am I..." RJ couldn't finish her sentence. The moment she realized at the last minute that Melgo was running towards her and aiming to hit her in the face, she spaced out and the blue-and-red vision kicked in, prompting RJ to grab Melgo by the wrist and throw her across the plateau they were standing on.

"You weren't focusing!" Melgo said sternly once RJ got her senses back to normal. "You're supposed to be the one in control of your power, not the other way around!"

"I wasn't ready!" RJ protested.

"Being ready is the whole point of being a villain," Melgo said. "If a good guy starts challenging you during you evil business, you have to be ready before throwing in the punch!" She went back to the position she took before she attacked RJ. "I'm going to attack again but with more force, and this time, focus the energy in your hand by telling yourself 'Keep off Melgo'. Got it?"

"OK." RJ felt quite intimidated. When Melgo actually started taking over the role of the teacher, she was more convincing and intimidating than the teachers at HenchCo, which almost made RJ wonder if she could picture Melgo as a Y.E.A.R.N professor...

SLAP! RJ fell onto the ground. This time, she had been so distracted that not even the power kicked in to protect her from Melgo punching her cheek.

"Focus!" Melgo said. "Seriously, what would you do if I were a big bully trying to steal that diamond you want, huh? Would you cry and act like the silly girl from the penthouse?"

The words hit RJ hard in the stomach, she felt like its contents were boiling up to her throat.

 _Silly girl from the penthouse._

 _Silly girl from the penthouse._

RJ could feel her anger increasing, she could tell that the 'silly girl' she used to be as Ronilda the social recluse without parents was angry as well.

Melgo tried to punch her again, this time her hand glowing with green energy. The moment she saw the fist aiming at her face, RJ grabbed it, clenching it tightly. Melgo was groaning from the pain the amateur fighter was giving her as if the latter was trying to crush her bones. She looked at RJ and gasped. The girl's body was covered by a blue aura of small cracking thunders and ominous screeching. Her eyes were shifting between a possessed blue color to her natural hazel hue until it settled for her normal hazel color.

"I'm...not...a silly girl...anymore. **GOT IT**?" RJ screamed the last words so viciously, the aura increased its thunder as she got angrier. Melgo was actually beginning to be scared.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered as calmly as she could. "I'll never call you silly again. Could you...please let me go?"

She asked so nicely, it caused RJ to blink and tone down her anger. The aura disappeared along with the anger. RJ's eyes widened, shocked by the pain she was causing to another person.

"What have I done?" She let go of Melgo and stammered. The latter removed her glove and inspected her hand. Aside from a few bruises, she looked fine.

"I think we've done enough personal training for today," Melgo said quietly. She grabbed the book, gently put it in her bag, and tossed it over her shoulder. She then walked over to RJ and gave her a small comforting pat on the shoulder. "C'mon. Grab your stuff, I know a good Bueno Nacho nearby."

 _Later, at Bueno Nacho_

RJ was already familiar with Bueno Nacho. Back when she was little, she asked her grandmother to try out fast food, so when the old woman came back from her bingo game, she brought over a carry-out order from the famous Mexican fast food chain. Her granddaughter instantly fell in love with the chicken burritos that her grandmother ordered.

It was a completely different story with the Arizona Bueno Nacho that Melgo took her too. The place's specialty was the 'One for Two Naco', a dish that made the naco, a hybrid of taco and nachos (whoever came up with the idea had to be a genius), into a Thanksgiving turkey sized dish for multiple people to share. Even though it meant double the price of a regular nacho, it was awfully good.

"I feel so much better," RJ said as she gleefully ate through the mass of cheese and beef with a tortilla chip she used as a spoon. She then looked at Melgo, who tried reading the book while avoiding spilling food on the pages as she multitasked. "Sorry again about your hand, Melgo."

"No one got injured," Melgo shrugged. "RJ, just to ask: what were you thinking when you tried squeezing my fist? Did you actually feel something?"

RJ mentally groaned. Why couldn't Melgo take a break from observations during meals, even when they weren't related to classes? "I was just...really angry when you used my old life as a way to push my buttons. For a moment, I felt like I was...changing."

"Like one part of you wanted to kill me for purposely irritating you?" RJ lowered her head in guilt at Melgo's correct assumption.

"The worst part was that I was aware this time," she said. "Like, I didn't space out or anything. I was aware that I caught your fist and that I had a light show, but I was only listening to my angered pride and trying to hurt you... But then it stopped when I heard you apologize."

"Figures." Melgo used her bruised hand to rub the scar on her cheek while her eyes continued to look at the book. "The book also mentions that emotionally weak practitioners of Monkey Kung Fu possessing Mystical Monkey Power can become easily prone to letting their injured negative feeling take the best of them. It can even cause them to kill without remorse, whether they want to or not." She closed the book and passed it to RJ. "RJ, you have to promise me that you will _never_ tell anyone what just happened."

"Not even Buffy?" RJ asked.

"Certainly not Buffy! She and her father are way too close neighbors with the Fiskes. One slip and they might mount your head!" Melgo grabbed RJ's wrist and held her right hand, making the latter feel the beeping of the microchip inserted in her arm like an electronic heart beat. "Listen to me, RJ. You will tell no one, not Buffy, not Jack Hench, no one in Y.E.A.R.N, or anyone else you know who isn't me, that you possess Mystical Monkey Power. I'll help you control it, but under no pretense must you use it. Can you promise me that?"

RJ looked at Melgo, unsure at first. Could she keep such a promise? Then again, Melgo had done so much for her. "I promise," she said.

"Good." She placed the book in RJ's hands. "Keep it and read it whenever you have time in your room. We'll keep working on you controlling the power every two days after you continue training at HenchCo." She took a sip of her soda.

"Can I ask two questions?" RJ asked unsurely.

"That's the first time somebody asks me such a thing." Melgo put aside her drink. "Sure, why not?"

"Well, how did you end up with, you know..." RJ tapped her cheek as a way to say that she was referring to Melgo's scar. Melgo scowled and rubbed her scar, forcing her to sigh.

"I guess I can tell since I never told anyone," she gave in. "As you know, my parents were a mad scientist and a super powered mercenary back in the old days. Ever since they got involved in the alien invasion -don't ask why, they got a pardon and clearance for their crimes. The cops wouldn't get under their skin as long as they promised to never do anything evil.

"I was homeschooled, but unlike you, they hired different tutors to educate me and they did take me out to places like the park, the movies, and even an amusement park. My dad taught me everything he knew in science and technology while my mother taught me how to fight. The main reason they had me learn from home was because they were worried I would get picked on for being the child of former global domination aspiring villains and for having a peculiar skin tone.

"Finally, when I was twelve, they thought I'd be old enough to stand up for myself, so they enrolled me at this public school near our house. So far things went fine for me, I got fairly along with my peers, and nobody judged me. It all went down one day." Melgo paused to eat some naco. RJ waited patiently until Melgo had finished eating and was able to continue. "My science class went on this field trip to the local aquarium. I was very exciting because hey, when your dad is used to rely on sharks in his lair, you gotta love them when they're in a tank like overgrown goldfish. My personal favorite section was the great white sharks. They had a catwalk where the visitors could walk over the tank and admire the sharks swimming under the surface!"

RJ smirked at Melgo's geeky behavior. Melgo then lost her smile.

"Then the accident occurred. We were walking in the middle of the catwalk and that's when I caught sight of a bunch a bullies from my class picking on a younger girl into giving them her wallet with the lunch money her mom always gave her. I marched at them and told them to give them back her wallet, but they just mocked me and called me out as the spoiled brat of lousy villains. They threw the wallet into the tank..."

"Seriously?" RJ covered her mouth in disbelief. "You jumped in a shark tank to fetch a wallet?"

"Well, I thought I was doing the right thing...Look, the point is, I jumped in the tank and landed on one of the baby sharks' back, which made me think that the adult shark was its mother and was going to kill me for hurting her baby, but then I realized sharks are not exactly known for being momma bears, so the adult shark was actually trying to eat me because it mistook me for its usual lunch meal. I freak out and this came." She fidgeted her fingers, causing a green plasma flame to grow. "Got my mom's glowing green plasma colors."

"Cool," RJ said. "Wait. If you got plasma powers, what happened to the sharks? Unless I'm mistaken, plasma is made of electrons that react twice as much as electricity when in water."

"No, it's true." Melgo nodded. "Problem is, along with the fact that water is a plasma current just like to electricity, my mother's plasma is pretty harmful. The energy went all over the tank that it gave the sharks lethal shocks, the catwalk broke, and some of my classmates fell in the water, which caused them to get electrocuted. At the same time, one of the shocked baby sharks swung its tail at me and..." She stopped to rub her scar.

"Did the authorities at least take into account that you didn't mean to do it on purpose?" RJ asked, feeling bad to have heard such an accident occur in Melgo's life.

"What do you think? I ruined my favorite aquarium section, caused the place to be closed down until they made sure it was radioactive-proof, and more than ten pairs of angry parents sued my parents for the injuries or deaths of their kids who fell in the tank. My parents had mixed feelings about the situation. They were proud that I had my powers, but then they grew worried that I would be placed in a reform school or juvenile hall, so they dropped their pardon and clearance and we moved to the Minalshari."

"They moved to the criminal haven for you?" RJ twirled the bendy straw of her soda. "Looks like your parents really cared about you to the point where they threw away their pardoned reputation."

"I know." Melgo rolled her eyes. "You won't believe the welcome back party the other villains..." She stopped ranting when she saw that RJ looked unhappy at the concept of parents. "But yeah, pretty much the entire story on how I got my scar. That's why I'm usually better off alone." She clenched her fist and reduced the chip into cheesy dust. "Even at Y.E.A.R.N, I scare the adults without lifting a finger. Do me a favor, RJ, and don't rant my backstory to anyone, OK."

"I'll pretend I never heard the story." RJ's promise made Melgo smirk. "And hey, if it makes you feel better, I don't mind having a blue friend with green plasma powers as my first friend ever since I put my foot in the real world."

"Your...first friend?" Melgo tried to process the words into her head. "Wow. Nobody's ever said that to me."

RJ giggled. A waiter came over to take their now empty plate of naco and left back to the kitchen once the girls ordered their cups of ice cream for dessert. "So, I answered question one. What's question two?" Melgo asked RJ.

"About my...power," RJ hesitated, "did it...I mean, does it have a negative effect on the Fiskes?"

"Oy, the Fiskes." Melgo shook her head. "I'll be honest with you, RJ, no one has ever seen any of them use Mystical Monkey Power. So far, most of the villain community only knows that, power aside, they are highly intelligent, highly athletic, and above all, monkey obsessed."

"What's so horrible about monkeys? I personally think they're cute." RJ's memories went back to when she was still a toddler living at the apartment and she used to play teatime with her plushed animal. Her two personal favorites were her panda 'Mr. Yin' and her panda 'Ms. Hook'.

"The animals aren't the problem," Melgo said while the waiter brought over her cup of pistachio ice cream and RJ's chocolate coconut one. "It's just...when people think of it, they usually think of the critters they see performing tricks at the zoo or the circus. But the Fiskes...they search deep into ancient cultures that _venerated_ monkeys like gods. They expertise in only the martial art form relating to monkeys. Back as an archaeologist, Monty Fiske explored monkey temples and brought back idols to museums, and when he became the villain Monkey Fist, he hunted any mystical monkey artifacts that would give him power over the world as the Monkey King."

RJ whistled. "I've heard of otaku, but this is just ridiculous."

"Believe me, he thought that only he deserved to be the master of monkeys. Then, my dad once told me that Monkey Fist managed to get a hold of four jade monkeys that gave him that power you also have. Mystical Monkey Power. But because some hero's goofy sidekick also got the power from the jade idols in order to beat Monkey Fist and broke them, the man's been insane about getting rid of the buffoon because he thought only _he_ deserved it. Some of us still don't understand how he managed to keep his sanity when he met his wife, the Simian Witch, who not only was his biggest fan, but came from a long line of witches who performed monkey magic and inherited the power from her ancestor, the same guy who made both the power and the kung fu."

"So, you're saying the British aristocratic snob is basically the monkey version of Frankenstein's monster?" RJ said.

"Sure, why not. Lately, the parents have calmed down and retired from villainy ever since an accident they don't like to talk about, but Martin's been trying to carry the family legacy. Positively speaking, he's not as insane as they are, but the bad part is that he still displays the genetic belief that things should be done his way. But you know what we personally dislike about him at the Minalshari? The only thing we don't like about him is that he's the only criminal authorities bother chasing."

"Seriously?" RJ couldn't believe it. "What does he have that we don't?"

"A castle, money, monkey ninjas, monkey hands and feet, and a classic tall, dark British physique and stone heart that make girls swoon." Melgo shrugged. "But otherwise, while nobody cares if I steal from a military base or someone else tries kidnapping a scientist, they bother hunting him down. He's wanted in more countries than my mom was and last time I checked, each country placed a bounty on him with the equivalent of 150000 in American cash."

RJ nearly chocked onto her spoon full of ice cream. "E...Each country would give 150000 dollars just to capture him?"

"I know, right?" Melgo snorted. "If I had _that_ amount of money, the first thing I'd do is get myself a trip to the Bahamas Resort and die in their amazing spa."

"Which countries is he wanted in?"

"Japan, China, India, England, the United States, Brazil, Egypt, Spain, Russia, Australia, Austria, and Canada." Melgo listed. "Twelve countries overall. Multiply twelve by the bounty and you get one million and eight hundred thousands of bucks."

Such a large amount of money! In her little head, it sounded like a large mass of money she could use to go visit any place she wanted to in the world. "Melgo, remind me to add that to a list of potential next heists. You might get that resort trip."

Melgo smirked and raised her ice cream cup in a cheers manner. "You, my friend, are absolutely vile. I love it!"

 _Meanwhile, in London_

It was midnight in the capital of England. With the dark sky followed by clouds, no one dared to go outside. Every public place was closed for the evening.

The British Museum had closed hours ago once the last group of tourists left. Only the sound of the air conditioners was heard throughout those white walls of history. From the security room, the guards were lazily drinking coffee and playing cards while occasionally looking at the screens showing nothing but empty exhibits. Little did they know that a teenager hacker had messed with their system, which meant that while they saw images of empty exhibits, it actually hid the fact that two criminals were sneaking into the hall where the Rosetta Stone was located.

"I can't believe were actually doing this!" Gilliard geeked in excitement as they stood in front of the large glass case that concealed the Rosetta Stone. "Martin Fiske will mark history by stealing the most..." He shut up when Martin covered his mouth with one of his monkey hands.

"We're not here to steal the stone."

"Wait, what?" Gilliard pulled the hand away from his mouth.

"Even for me, stealing such a relic is low. No, we're here because there's an ancient spell hidden in the Egyptian hieroglyphics of the stone and I want that spell. Did you bring your nano-scanner?"

"Always do." Gilliard pulled his left sleeve, revealing a green wristwatch with the time needles shaped like eels. He pressed a finger on his watch, causing a small digital camera to glow a green light that scanned the area of the stone carved with the Ancient Egyptian text.

"See anything fishy yet?" Martin arched a smug eyebrow.

"Ha, ha," Gilliard rolled his eyes. Suddenly, the green scanning light narrowed down to a few areas in the hieroglyphic text that were spread out from each other. The fish mutant toyed a bit more with his nano-scanner. "I'm picking up something. Wow...it looks like each line has two or three bird hieroglyphics...but the lines are hiding linear Asian characters. I'd need a bigger computer to analyze it further, though."

"I know a nearby place where we can use a computer." Martin nodded. "Let's hurry up."

"Give me a sec to finish the scanning...OK, we're good!" He and Martin made a run for it and through the air vent they came through. By the time the images unfroze in the security room, the boys had made it all the way to Bedford Square Garden, where Martin led Gilliard to this small literary café called the Cerulean Café. The place was closed for the evening, but since it was an old-fashioned place, nobody had settled a modern security system, so Martin found no difficulty to pick the lock and let the boys in.

"So this is that café Dad never stopped talking about?" Gilliard looked around the place full of tables and chairs, an empty bakery counter, and the best part of all, a small library corner with armchairs and a computer. He cracked his knuckles and walked over to the computer. "Give me a few minutes to download the scan and analyze it."

"Of course. While you're at it, I'll see if I can heat us some tea." Martin pushed the door behind the counter open and made his way into the kitchen. Like the café, the kitchen itself was old-fashioned if you excluded the fridge and the baking ovens. He took a deep sniff and caught the odor of lemon tea cookies in one of the cabinets. He followed the scent to the cabinet, which he opened until he found a box full of the cookies and a jar of leaves used for Earl Grey tea, his favorite beverage.

You'd think that of aristocratic breeding, Martin knew nothing about cooking. That was half-true: he did know how to prepare things up for the traditional British tea time, only in this case he was making a late night snack for himself and his friend.

A few minutes later, he came out of the kitchen while carrying a tray holding a teakettle full of hot Earl Grey, two empty teacups, and the box of cookies. He brought all this over to the library, where he filled up a cup and gave it to Gilliard. "Here."

"Thanks." Gilliard drank slow sips of the still boiling tea. "I managed to get the full translation of those hidden characters. Ancient dudes were smart, hiding a text within another text. No wonder you wanted it."

"What does it say?" Martin asked.

"I didn't read it yet because I thought you'd want to do it first." He switched places with Martin, leaving him to read the text while Gilliard started to assault the lemon cookies. The text was formed into a poem, which didn't bother him. He personally liked poetry.

 _Destined, Deserved,_

 _And Wanted. This is our spell_

 _For a man to have what he deserves well_

 _And for a woman to have what her heart wanted._

 _Whether or not they see it as their destiny,_

 _This spell works, but consequences are not so tiny._

 _The spell will only work if you have the ingredients._

 _The purest honey made from the youngest bees._

 _Lovaelia, its heart petals so radiant._

 _A poumanu touched by a virgin's kiss._

 _A hair of the person that you desire._

 _You'll need those ingredients to go higher._

 _Boil the honey, grind the petals,_

 _Melt the poumanu. Mix it all until it's as gold as money._

 _Drop in the hair. You'll know if you succeed_

 _If a ghostly heat monkey's skull appears to bleed._

 _Then, take your intended to a safe location_

 _Where no eyes shall witness your intention._

 _Have them bathe in or drink the spell_

 _And with a kiss seal it well._

 _The man shall have what he deserves,_

 _The woman has what she wants, and the affected will have no choice but to serve._

 _But be warned. Once affected,_

 _The victim shall be physically enslaved._

 _So even if the body respects the master,_

 _The mind will only protest further._

 _If the victim were to genuinely love the master_

 _And share genuine love together,_

 _The spell will be broken for good_

 _And the slave shall decide to spare or shed the master's blood._

If Martin gave a pence for any weird thing he read while trying to follow in his parents' footsteps, this was by far the most insane piece of ancient craziness, he would have lost his family fortune.

The way he understood it, the spell would make his victim physically do anything he wanted but the mind would be intact, turning the victim into an unwilling puppet unless the victim was crazy enough to catch the Stockholm Syndrome, the spell's over, and Martin's fate would be determined by the victim.

 _Would I be_ _ **that**_ _insane to turn a harmless girl like RJ into unwanted slavery?_ Martin started questioning himself mentally. _I mean, the odds of her genuinely loving me and not wanting to hack my head off once the spell breaks are unlikely, but still, is it all worth it?_

She called him a British aristocratic snob. Surely the spell could be used to teach her a thing or two about respecting him. Then again, she had called him out for pinning her back in the dressing room cabinet like a pervert, and that point seemed to make it evident that using a spell to make her his would be beneath him.

"Hey, Gilliard?" Martin turned his head to face Gilliard, who had completely emptied the cookie box. "Do you find it beneath me to make someone my personal reluctant slave?"

"Isn't that the point of taking over the world?" Gilliard said. "Being in charge of people who don't want to be your slaves?"

Martin wanted to sigh at the positive comment. True, that was the point of global conquest. "And...Suppose I were to make a personal reluctant slave out of...a girl?"

Gilliard dropped his teacup onto the floor, making the spilled liquid look like brown blood on the floor. "Did your head get switched with the one of DNAmy? On which planet do you think sexual slavery is a good thing?"

"I'm not planning on raping!" Martin protested. "It doesn't take a virgin to know that intimacy is worse without consent!"

"Oh, OH, so you want a trophy girl! A little girl who can't defend herself while she stands next to you in public, washes your laundry, or massages your feet because you tell her to!"

"No! I just..." Martin didn't know how to defend himself. His own lungs were on the verge of running out of breath just from protesting. Seeing his friend in emotional turmoil, Gilliard grabbed the last teacup and poured some tea in it.

"Martin, what's going on?" He asked calmly as he gave Martin his cup of tea.

"The American vixen...She plagues me." Martin looked at his cup. For a moment, he could have sworn that the shadows of that beverage were forming the shape of the creature's silhouette, as if to tempt him to drink within her like a poison.

"RJ...plagues you." Gilliard massaged his green-skin temples. "Martin, how old are you?"

"Twenty-two this year. Why?"  
"OK, I know your folks did the weird thing of hitting it off with the twelve year gap, but still, hitting on RJ? She seems to be younger than me and Melgo, which would make her six years younger than you, and aside from the fact that she probably doesn't fit your mom's family's dating expectations, do you think it's worth it to enslave a girl you barely just met only because your head can't erase her out of it?"

"I don't know anymore, Gilliard." Martin drank from his tea. "I can't even keep the fire in my chimney on at night without the flames reminding me of her mane!"

"That's intense..." Gilliard cut himself. While it did seem irrational for Martin, a young man dedicated to his parents' desire to conquer the world and become a Monkey Ruler, to obsess over a girl he only met yesterday and start fussing over a spell that would allow him to own her, it _might_ appease the Simian Witch's rants of Martin getting himself a female partner to continue the family legacy. _I can't believe I'm actually agreeing into this_ , he thought.

"OK, if this spell will help you calm down, go for it, but please promise me this. Don't do it again if things don't turn out the way you want them to," Gilliard said.

Martin gripped onto Gilliard's left shoulder. "I promise in the name of Hanuman and the friendship I have for you. This will be a one-time deal."

Gilliard held out a finger. "Hold on, Monkey Boy. Even if I agree to help you in this, at least _try_ to get to know RJ."

Martin gulped. Social skills were never in his domain, but he'd have to get over them in order to get Gilliard's approval. "Fair enough."

Gilliard turned his head to the computer screen. "Fancy poetry. So, what do you need?"

"Purest honey from the youngest bees, petals of Lovaelia, a 'poumanu touched by a virgin's kiss', and RJ's hair," Martin said as he printed out the poem and deleted it from the computer once Gilliard got a hold of the print out. "Out of these four ingredients, I can assume that fetching the hair will be the only easiest part."

"Honey, petals, and poumanu..." Gilliard read. "Try looking it up online. Oh, and when you look up for the honey, make sure you point out 'purest honey' and 'youngest bees'."

"Fair enough." Martin logged into the Internet and used Gilliard's advice to do the research. A page with a list of honeys and bees ranging all the way to the best was found. "According to this authentic beekeeping website, the purest honey made by the youngest bees are only found in one place in the world. The Beaufox Spa."

"Hey, I know that spa!" Gilliard said. "It's a spa owned by the brother of the plastic surgeon who gave those experimental plastic surgery shapeshifting powers to Camille Leon. His spa is located next to the Smarty Mart in the Minalshari."

"Why would honey be used at a spa?" Martin frowned.

"Don't you know that honey is good for naturally killing facial bacteria?" Gilliard shook his head. "OK. The honey and the hair should obviously be in the Minalshari, but what about the poumanu and the Lovaelia?"

"Let's see." Martin searched further online. "Apparently, a poumanu touched by a virgin's kiss is a flower shaped Maori poumanu hidden in an underground mine below the Tama Lakes and..." Martin fidgeted on his seat and put a hand on his mouth to cover his disgust. "Has rested by a virgin's actual flower for ten minutes."

"Gross!" Gilliard exclaimed. "And..."

"The Lovaelia flower is a very endangered species of heart-shaped petal orchids that disappeared from the Aztec kingdom during the Spanish invasion. I might have to go to Monte Carlo and goad Big Daddy Brothersome to get information from him."

"The things I do for evil..." Gilliard mumbled. "OK, we go to the Minalshari tomorrow to get the honey and hopefully RJ's hair and then we head for Monte Carlo, but I will not be a part of fetching the poumanu! There's no way I'm placing a stone on genitals!"

"Understood." Martin cleared their research history and placed everything back as they were before they first came here. "I just hope getting the honey won't be too difficult."

"And the hair as well. If we're lucky, we might be able to get both at the same time."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because, if there's one thing that girls _cannot_ resist is a trip to the spa, and the Beaufox Spa is one of the best, most affordable spas in the Minalshari. RJ can't possibly say no to a spa trip."


	8. Some Break

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 8: Some Break

"Not it..." RJ crumbled another piece of paper and grabbed a new one to scramble some new notes. "OK, I get in the museum...front entrance..."

"Long day?"

Buffy's sudden voice talking to her from behind her chair made RJ yelp. "QUIET BACK THERE!" The voice of the librarian shouted.

"Sorry," RJ whispered sarcastically. Buffy pulled a chair near her and grabbed some of the crumbled papers RJ had discarded onto the desk.

"Figuring out for your Hope Diamond heist?" Buffy asked quietly.

"Yeah. The professor in Theft Tactics wants me to put much further thought on how I plan to steal the diamond," RJ said. "You tell him you want to steal in the daytime and he sentences you to do homework in the library until you figure something out."

"Eesh. He could have at least given you credit for thinking outside the box." Buffy looked through some of the papers that RJ had discarded. "You definetly got an artist's block here."

"Did you have that kind of problem when you stole from Fort Knox?" RJ crumbled another piece of paper.

"Nay. I just threw an exploding golf ball at the vault, and while the guards were distracted, I made a run for the gold." Buffy shrugged.

A light bulb effect came to RJ. She quickly took back all her discarded notes, threw them away in the nearest disposal bin, and rushed back to the table. She pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down new notes. "This may sound crazy, Buffy, but you gave me an idea!"

"How crazy is it?" Buffy arched an eyebrow.

"Crazy as in me thinking I should pass off as a visitor in the museum, place some sort of mini time bomb in the first and bottom floors, creates a fire, and while the security staff is busy ushering everyone out to safety, I easily get to the Hope Diamond, break its glass container, and walk away with it?" RJ gave a wide, toothy grin. Buffy rubbed her chin in thought.

"Well, it does sound decent, lassie...I hope the professor approves."

"Yes!"

A dinging sound came from RJ's laptop. She opened it and went to her Y.E.A.R.N member email account. "Crud. Melgo's got an appointment with her parents today. We were supposed to train together today after classes..."

"Can't you move it to tomorrow?"

"Well, we planned on doing our personal training every two days, but tomorrow's the monster truck rally that her cousin is hosting and her parents promised her uncle that they'd tragically be there. I guess that means that I'll have to make my first meeting with the Y.E.A.R.N gym treadmills."

"Or you can meet a girl's paradise! The spa!" Buffy suggested. RJ squealed and clapped her hands despite being in a library. Aside from wanting to see Big Ben so much, she always wanted to go to a spa and enjoy a real facial, mud bath, aromatherapy, and mani-pedi. Not like when her grandmother showed her how to paint her toenails with screaming pink.

"I'm in!" RJ said.

"Great. I'll meet you outside at four and we'll catch a shuttle."

"And before you do that, you ladies will learn to be quiet in a library!" The librarian jumped out of nowhere and shushed at them.

 _Later_

The Beaufox Spa was one of those modern buildings that clashed with the old-fashioned ones in Down Street, another one of grand Minalshari 'mixed architecture' gigs. If you passed the old Smarty Mart building that looked like an early 21st century yellow warehouse, you'd find next to it the black-and-white modern building with a Taj Mahal like roof that serves as the Beaufox Spa. Like Très Chez Léon, it was one of those hangout areas in the villain haven where the owner played with prices based on the customer's wealth. If the customer had cash close to a hundred, they'd provide him or her with any treatment close to the amount, but the wealthiest could afford the best.

Martin and Gilliard arrived at Beaufox Spa around 4:15pm. Since it was a weekday, there weren't a lot of people here, only a few ladies and a couple men reading some magazines while waiting for their next available slot.

"That sandalwood fragrance is making my scales shiver," Gilliard sighed.

"We're not here for a treatment," Martin whispered before he headed to the secretary. "Excuse me, isn't it at the Beaufox Spa where you have the purest honey made of the youngest bees? I'm...looking for something to give to my mother." He swallowed as he tried to lie.

"Smooth." Gilliard gave him a smug grin, which got returned by a glare from Martin.

"What's the treatment?" the receptionist asked, as if she didn't care that she was dealing with a potential wealthy customer. She lost interest in him when she heard the glass door open and caught sight of who came in. "Hey, Buffy! How's it going? Who's your friend?"

"That's RJ," Buffy Killigan came in. Martin felt his gut froze when he saw RJ behind Buffy, dressed in the same red cropped topped, beige cargo pants, and teal sneakers he had seen her wear when he first encountered her at the dressing room cabinet. "RJ, that's Suzy. She used to be an old Y.E.A.R.N member."

"Until the economy crashed," Suzy rolled her eyes. "Now I'm stuck here!"

"Ahem!" Martin cleared his throat, causing them to turn their eyes towards them.

"Great," RJ muttered, "we accidently came to the country club in Up Street. Otherwise, how do you explain the snob clientele?" She crossed her arms.

"No, this is Beaufox Spa in Down Street," Suzy said.

"She was being sarcastic, Suzy," Buffy said.

"Oh."

"I'm not here for a treatment, I'm here to get products for my mother..." Martin swallowed his throat even more.

"Oh, a British aristocratic snob _and_ a mother's boy!" RJ said. "That clear's things up!"

Martin clamped his mouth shut to hide his gritting teeth. As much as he wanted to punch anyone who insulted his mother, he had to remind himself what he came for. _Besides_ , he thought, _the moment I have her under my control, I'll teach her respect._

He then caught sight of her hair and remembered that he needed at least a strand of it, so he decided to play along.

"True, but at least I'm a snob who bothers to get his mommy her Mother's Day present in advance," he said calmly, pushing Buffy out of his way and purposely hurt RJ by twirling his index finger in of her bangs and forcing some strands of ginger blonde locks to coil on his finger.

"OUCH!" RJ pulled away. "What was that for?"

"I apologize. Did Mommy spend hours trying to straighten those bangs?" He gave a mocking pout.

RJ's fists clenched. She almost tried punching him before Suzy interrupted. "I hate to watch a couple argue, but may I ask again the type of treatment your mother wanted?" Her question made Martin ignore RJ, even though he did feel rather disturbed about Suzy suggesting that they were a couple. _Like that would ever happen,_ he thought to himself.

"What options do you have with...honey?" he asked as patiently as he could.

Suzy's eyes gleamed. "You wanted to give your mother the honey treatment products? Why, she will be so touched!" She clapped her hands together. "Do you know which one she'd like?"

"Yes, she would very much like the purest honey made by the youngest bees..."

Somebody threw an acupuncture needle at him. Martin and the others dodged it before it hit the wall. Gasps were heard among the waiting guests as they saw an African-American man in his late forties dressed in a white working uniform walking towards them.

"Mr. Beaufox! That's unexpected," Buffy said.

"I hear somebody is daring me to sell to him my purest honey." Beaufox did a staring contest with Martin. "Is that so?"

"Yes. My...mother deserves the best." Martin swallowed. His fingers slightly rubbed the hair strands he still had stuck on them. Beaufox smirked at him and pulled something out of his shirt's pocket: a glass vial, roughly bigger than his thumb, containing white liquid pale enough to be lemonade.

"How is this honey?" RJ asked in confusion. This caused Beaufox to catch his eye on her and walk around her like a museum specimen. Martin saw her actually shedding a drop of sweat.

"Will you look at that," Beaufox said. "A pearl that slipped out of rough grass. Quite delicate, you could easily be broken without special treatment." RJ was visibly getting more uncomfortable by the second, Martin couldn't stand it as much as he was getting impatient.

"I'm assuming that seven hundred pounds from my credit cards don't interest you?" He temptingly started pulling out his wallet and shook it. The sound of credit cards hitting each other while being wrapped up in a leather coat obviously caught the man's attention and he ignored RJ. The latter looked confused at Martin, like she didn't expect him to do such a thing.

"Well, seven hundred pounds is close to nine hundred thousand dollars," Beaufox pondered out loud. "I suppose..."

"Add in an extra bottle and any spa treatment for the ladies and my friend, we'll make it one thousand dollars total." Martin shook his wallet.

"DEAL!" Beaufox excitedly ran to the storage room.

"WHAT?" RJ, Buffy, and Gilliard exclaimed.

"Excellent!" Suzy got up from her desk. "I will go fetch the spa robes while you get your payment ready!" The moment she was out of sight and the other clients went back to their business, Buffy caught Martin's wrist and made him turn to face her right in the eye.

"What screwed ye, Monkey Boy? A thousand bucks, your folks will skin you alive!"

"Can't you just be grateful?" Martin snapped. "I'm not doing this for you but because I wanted to get the product for my mother...and give Gilliard a break."

"Aw, the things we do." Gilliard pretended to be flattered. "I hope your mom doesn't think of grounding you!"

"Why would she ground him? Aren't aristocrats supposed to like expensive gifts?" RJ arched an eyebrow.

"You clearly haven't met _his_ mom!" Gilliard snorted and pointed a finger at Martin.

"Let me guess. Simian Witch, super Monkey Powers, she'll turn him into a monkey just for ruining her financially?" RJ crossed her arms together and gave a joking smirk.

"Good one." Buffy high-fived her.

Beaufox came back with a box holding two bottles of the honey. Martin instantly paid up with his card. "The honey can be used for any treatment your mother desires: facial, aromatherapy, foot massage, juice resting...and it's still edible, so she'd love it in pancakes!"

"Juice resting?" RJ asked.

"It's a process where the client rests on a massaging table and sugary condiments are sprinkled or sprayed all over their body to both kill the bacteria and sooth down the body." Beaufox smirked. "Very useful for teenage crisis. I highly recommend trying it while you are here."

"Well, you three have fun." Martin patted Gilliard on the shoulder. "I'll see you back in England."

"OK. Good luck in Monte-Carlo and Maori," Gilliard said. He made a run for one of the white spa robes that Suzy brought over.

"Monte Carlo and Maori?" RJ gawked, an expression of envy appearing in her hazel eyes. " _Lucky._ "

Martin frowned in confusion. Why on earth would she think he was lucky to go to the biggest gambling city in all of Europe and a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean? Normally, girls thought a guy was lucky, based on what he learned, if he was dating the most popular girl in school or knew this amazing TV director. Why would she envy him for going to two places that he personally didn't like?

"I'm just going there for personal business," he shrugged. "Nothing big."

He watched as RJ bit her lip, slightly making them bleed. "I'm guessing...since you're British...you've been at Big Ben?"

Martin was getting even more confused than usual. "Well I haven't gone _inside_ it, but I've seen it whenever I go to London..." RJ's cheeks were reddening and she proceeded to cover her mouth with one hand. "I think I should get going." Martin clutched his box full of bottles and stormed out of the spa.

 _An hour later_

Mixed feelings were boiling inside of RJ as she relaxed in one of the armchairs while one employee gave her a pedicure.

For one, she was enjoying the spa treatments Beaufox had placed out for them. The mud bath made her senses feel relaxed, the juice resting with honey and diced apples smoothened her skin, and now the pedicure. This felt like the life she always wanted. But for two, she was feeling internally confused about what she recently saw in Martin Fiske. Two days ago, he had been acting like a jerk because of a dress' price, and today, not only did he pull her hair, but this time he bothered to pay for their spa treatment, risk a ton of money just to get his mother a present, and he behaved weirdly when distracting Beaufox with money. Also...

"You know, I couldn't help put notice that you were rather curious about Martin's travels." Gilliard's voice cut her from her thoughts. While Buffy was in the sauna, Gilliard was sitting on the next armchair and enjoying getting his webbed feet claws being sharpened and his scales waxed. He was reading one of those villains' magazines that the spa employees left on the table for them to read. "You sounded rather jealous."

"I was," RJ sighed. "It's just...I was kind of homeschooled and until I ran away to join Y.E.A.R.N, I've never gone anywhere outside of home."

"Ouch," Gilliard said.

"So yeah, I got pretty jealous. Especially for the part of Big Ben. I always wanted to go there, but not in the sense of just seeing it. Like...actually going inside and climb all the way to the top until I'm standing on the roof and I look down at London like it's one giant postcard!" RJ said dreamingly.

"Sounds epic." Gilliard said. "So, how are you doing so far in Y.E.A.R.N? I'm guessing the number of members there are still low."

"You used to be a member?"

"I was a few years ago. I later quit to be partners with Martin. My dad also used to be in Y.E.A.R.N and used to be Martin's mother's apprentice in villainy. He was also on surrogate son terms with Monkey Fist even after Martin was born."

"What about your mom?"

"Eh." Gilliard shrugged. "She also studied at Y.E.A.R.N and later dated and married my dad, but they divorced eventually. She now works as a HenchCo secretary..."

" _Secretary_?" RJ almost distracted the woman who was doing her pedicure. "Does your mom happen to be Secretary Magali?"

"You met her?" Gilliard grimaced.

"She's the one who directed me to HenchCo," RJ said. "So, she's your mom? But...you don't look anything alike!"

"I heard office and paperwork would warp your mind." He shrugged while his feet were being rubbed, causing the white towel the employee was using to turn brown and mucky. "Any who, I'm never crazy about hanging out with my folks. When I'm with my mom at the Minalshari, she's too busy dealing with her work at HenchCo so I just troll around the local arcade, and when I'm with my dad, it's always trying to haunt Camp Wannaweep."

RJ was interested in hearing his story. For a moment, she was wondering if she was lucky that she never met or dealt with her parents. Just imagining the idea of visiting two parents in two different areas and each practically seemed to neglect you, it actually made her grateful that hers downright abandoned her. "So, with your parents not really in your base, you spend most of your time with the British snob and his parents?"

"No, I actually live there. Got a nice room with a window that leads me straight to the moat if I want a morning swim." Gilliard straightened up on his chair. "A quick thing I should point out though, feisty. The next time you want to badmouth Martin, _don't_ use any of his parents as a source of insult."

"Why?" She snorted. "Is he going to sue me or have a gorilla strangle me?"

"No, but last September, after Melgo's cousin Edina badmouthed his father in front of him during a villain's convention downtown, he nearly succeeded in getting her crushed by her dad's monster truck when the dude came driving him."

"Oy, I remember that day." Buffy had just come back from her sauna treatment, looking fresher than ever. "It took hours to convince Motor Ed that Edina needed a body cast..."

"A body cast?" RJ gulped. "He...Fiske really managed to harm her that badly?"

"Well first he choked her in a headlock, twisted her elbows, and handcuffed her wrists and ankles before throwing her in the monster truck's path." Gilliard got up from his seat and put the magazine back on the table. "Edina was lucky that her dad's vehicle ended up having a flat tire. So for future reference, never insult his folks, their family's interests, or even make fun of Amelia Hall trolling him. I learned to avoid these things and I'm still alive."

RJ's gut seemed to shiver from the inside all the way to her spine. At this moment, she had gone through the details in her head and realized that she might have unintentionally gotten herself a ticket for death. After hearing Gilliard's warnings and recalling what Melgo had told her about the Fiskes being overprotective of their status as sole bearers of Mystical Monkey Power, she deduced that maybe provoking the British just for his superior status was anything but smart. She could still remember when she first met him at the dressing room cabinet. If he had wanted to, he could have easily used his hand to crush her windpipes.

She thought he wasn't worth being intimidated, but right now the mere notion that she'd end up strangled by him scared her to the bone. The soothing effects must have worn off.

"I...I think I'm gonna head back," RJ said. She gave the staff the robe she had worn over her clothes and made sure she grabbed her backpack.

"You're not just leaving because I told you about the Edina accident, are you?" Gilliard and Buffy quickly caught up to her as she headed out of the spa.

"I...maybe?" RJ shook her head. "I don't feel comfortable talking about it."

"Fine, then let's quit talking about Monkey Boy..." Buffy stopped in her tracks and quickly pressed her nose at one of the store windows in the area. "Holy clubs! My dream has finally come true! X-TREME GOLF MAYHEM!" She dropped on her knees in front of the purple painted video game store.

"You're into video games too?" RJ said eagerly. "I'm such a _huge_ fan of the MICHIE GHAN MYSTIC HUNTER PlayStation." She pretended to be on a lookout position as she imitated the deep voice of the video games' narration. "In a city haunted by the ancient powers of ZODAHO, one girl bearing the powers of the Zodiac amulet must race against the mystic obstacles and reach the temple of INFINITY to purge all evil and save her town!" She sighed happily. "I know this is bad guys' town, but this video game is awesome! Before I ran from home, I actually made it to the level of the SNAKE PITTED mayor's office..."

"You made it all the way to number 12 in the video game franchise? I'm still stuck on number eight!" Gilliard dropped on his knees and bowed before RJ. "I shall now be your slave until you have taught me to master all the levels that I've missed!"

RJ stared at Buffy and the two girls grinned mischievously. The former stood up in a fake snobbish manner. "Very well, slave. You shall go get me all the MICHIE GHAN MYSTIC HUNTER video games and a PlayStation. That way, I shall teach you everything your little mind needs to know."

Buffy snorted in amusement. RJ was definitely getting the hang of being evil.

 _Close to the end of day_

RJ was lucky that Buffy and Gilliard left ten minutes before she started throwing up in her toilet.

The rest of the afternoon had gone insane. After Gilliard had voluntarily purchased the video games and PlayStation, the three of them had gone back to RJ's apartment in Y.E.A.R.N and spent the entire afternoon. Around 6pm, they had ordered sushi and a pack of root beer cans since Gilliard insisted on continuing to play until he could steal RJ's crown as champion of the MICHIE GHAN MYSTIC HUNTER video games (she still found it ironic that a fish boy wouldn't have a problem eating raw fish wrapped with seaweed and served with soy sauce). By the time it was 10pm, the consumed food had gone to his head and knocked him out once he got his dream accomplished. Buffy had to proceed into dragging him out and doom the janitor into mopping off all the mutated drool he was leaving behind. RJ didn't have much to clean up aside from plastic wraps, empty cans, and her new video games. _Quite a way to celebrate my third day out of my nest_ , she mentally thought. _Playing video games and then throwing up._

She took a warm shower, cleaned her teeth, and lied on her bed. Unlike Gilliard, the sugar wasn't wearing her out but keeping her from falling asleep. She tried closing her eyes, but they kept reopening every five seconds. _Note to self, I'm going to bed early before my Hope Diamond heist_ , she thought.

Feeling like she didn't have any other solution, she thought that her best option was to read and fall asleep from boring lecture. That usually worked. She quickly fetched the book Melgo gave her and went on to read it. Much to her surprise, the book was actually very interesting. Aside from describing the steps of basic to complex techniques, it also talked about legends linked the techniques and the artifacts connected to them. It even talked about Mystical Monkey Power, how Toshimu the founder of Tai Shing Pek Kwar was the one who first created and harnessed the power. According to the book, since Mystical Monkey Power was an ancient power so veiled from the real world, the only two possible ways to wield it was to either gain it by possessing the four jade monkeys or if you were born to someone who had the power. She remembered what Melgo told her about Martin's mother having inherited the power from her family's ancestor and his father used the jade monkeys to get it himself. Conclusion made, Martin Fiske had Mystical Monkey Power transferred in his DNA from both sides of the family.

But what did that make of RJ? She had the power and Melgo confirmed it, but how did she get it in the first place? Since she had been nowhere near a monkey idol made of jade, it can only justify that RJ had received it genetically, which meant that perhaps...

RJ couldn't believe what she was thinking: at least one of her parents must have carried the power and passed it on to her when she was born. Maybe he was an extremely distant descendant of Toshimu from a line of heirs that moved further west. Perhaps that was why she grew up sheltered most of her life. Her parents must have thought that, if there was also another bearer other than the 'hero's sidekick buffoon' Melgo mentioned, the Fiskes would have hunted her down to eliminate the competition.

For the first time, RJ was actually grateful that her parents were overprotective enough to not even talk to her.

She continued reading on. She landed in a peculiar paragraph discussing Mystical Monkey Power practiced by the two genders. _It has been noticed by our predecessors that the power reacts differently between men and women_ , the paragraph said. _Men possessing the power will believe that only they deserve such a gift while women will believe that it will guide them to what they really want in life._

"Men think they _deserve_ the power," RJ muttered to herself as she closed the book and put it back on the shelf before turning the lights off for good and returning to bed, "and women think it _guides_ them to what they want. So, what do I want?" RJ closed her eyes and fell asleep. When she reopened them, she was standing on some sort of rooftop with an illuminating city below wherever they were standing on the roof of. Up ahead, she saw two silhouettes, a male and a female, standing dangerously near the edge of the roof. RJ watched as the dark male silhouette handed a knife to the female silhouette and said something inaudible. Judging by his stiff position and where they were located, it seemed to RJ like the male wanted to die, whether it was from the female's hands or suicide.

The female threw the knife over the roof and jumped at the male, kissing him and causing him to fall...

"STOP!" RJ ran towards the insane couple as they dangerously made out near the edge. The closer she got to them, the more the streetlights lighted what was really happening. RJ stopped in her tracks when she had a better look at the two, who ignored her and continued to kiss and make out despite their dangerous location.

The male was Martin Fiske, much to her surprise. His dark hair messier than usual and his upper body clothing were removed to be used as a cushion for him and his female companion. RJ scolded herself for blushing at the sight of his slightly tanned, but quite muscular physique with a black monkey symbol tattoo that went above his torso and chest. It didn't help that the sweat coming out of his skin made him look like he was shining.

But the sight that shocked her the most? The female silhouette Martin Fiske was making out with was _herself_! Her hair was as messy as Martin's and the zipper of her Y.E.A.R.N uniform had been brought down along with her sleeves, he had a very good visual of her bare upper body except for the bra that weakly covered her breasts.

RJ was too speechless. Martin Fiske kept kissing her apparition deeply and the latter looked like she was _encouraging_ him to keep seducing her. She seemed particularly excited when his hands began to playfully tease the fabric of her bra and any region of her hips that her uniform concealed...

"GAH!" RJ jolted up on her bed. She was still in her bedroom, barely twenty minutes after falling asleep, and dressed in her sleeping clothes. She made a run for the bathroom and splashed her face with water from the sink. The cold water sunk its way through her skin but not her confusion.

There was no way, under any senile suggestion, that the power was guiding RJ to what she wanted. All her life, she wanted to be free of her overprotective nest and live in the outside world. She was only living the first three days of her new experience. So much had to be discovered. And in a short amount of days, she'd be stealing the most valuable diamond in the world.

So why did she see this image? Why was the power saying that RJ wanted to have a sexual relationship with the British aristocratic that she only encountered twice? She didn't even think they were easily matched! From her perspective, if she did get stuck in a relationship with him, he'd probably treat her like a slave. Force her to clean every inch of his home, have her cook his meals without even letting him sit with him at the table, restrain her in bed while he forced his way through her helpless, nude flower, and maybe even clean or massage with her bare hands his monkey feet while she'd whimper at the idea of being beaten by him.

Yes, she had watched a lot of cartoons with stereotypical chauvinist men in them, but it was enough to tell her that her insane nightmare should be locked away deep in her mind. "I'm never going to be his property," she told herself sternly before finally having the courage to go back to sleep.


	9. Seriously, Play Away

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 9: Seriously, Play Away

The valets opened the door leading to the inside of the Monte Carlo Casino. The noises of gambling, drinking martini, and people cheering at the winners rung in Martin's ears like annoying bells. On a general basis, he disdained casinos primarily for their reputations, in his perspective, as quick loses of money. But Martin had no control on Big Daddy Brothersome, the criminal underworld's best information broker. As the years passed since most do-gooders retired into the shadows and left villains bored, Big Daddy Brothersome spent the next years of his life wasting time in global casinos, successfully gambling people out of money and spending the night with at least one paramour per month in the most luxurious hotels. It wouldn't be a surprise if Martin found the old man in the Monte Carlo Casino.

He straightened his tie in frustration as he walked with discomfort through the green floor of the casino floor. He had to keep a low profile. The Monaco officials had nothing against him, but he could easily be recognized and handed over to the other countries who wanted him arrested. Therefore, covering his poor monkey hands and feet with tight leather gloves and men's shoes were as annoying as having to wear a black-and-white business suit, combing his hair and gelling it to the back, and wearing sunglasses to conceal his insane eyes. He thought he looked like one of those stupid spies from one of Gilliard's Friday night movies when he checked himself in the mirror before heading to the casino.

The stoic young man walked his way through the casino. If the noise wasn't already annoying, the smell of alcohol being choked through laughter wasn't any better. Dodging big crowds was repulsive. The passing waitresses carrying trays yet still taking the opportunity to wink at Martin were enough to make him wish that all women were raised in convents. He grimaced when some, those who purposely kept their tops unbuttoned to reveal their cleavage, pouted their lips or swung their hips at him. Martin didn't want to imagine how casinos paid their employees to act as male patrons' pleasure toys.

He finally reached the table of Big Daddy Brothersome. The old man was quite a retired wreck. Close to his seventies, he had lost all his hair and had wrinkles and moles, the worst area being his neck, it looked like a squeezing sponge whenever the man moved his head. Unlike his body, his brown tuxedo and red tie were straightened up. Two bodyguards in black suits stood behind him, a bunch of patrons sat at the sides of the table, and at least each of them, including the lead patron, were accompanied by a skimpy whore ranging from the early twenties to late thirties.

 _How humanity has degraded itself_ , Martin muttered mentally.

"I see we got ourselves a new game player." Big Daddy Brothersome waved his hand towards the empty seat on his left. Martin nodded and sat between the information broker and some Bulgarian gambler. "You are?"

"Eskif. Train M Eskif," Martin said, using an anagram he had invented to mask his identity. Last thing he wanted was for the patrons to start gambling on the amount of money they'll have for turning over Martin Fiske.

"Well then, Mr. Emeskif," Big Daddy Brothersome said, getting Martin's fake name wrong. "Up for a game of twisted Uno?"

Martin wanted to laugh. Uno was probably the lamest, easiest game he ever played in his life. Gilliard always lost whenever they played that game by the fireplace when they were children. Nevertheless, he kept his cold. "What's the twist?" He asked.

Big Daddy Brothersome smirked and waved his hand at all the patrons sitting with them. "I win, the patron who lost the most points to me in one round gets kicked out. IF anybody can actually beat me in the runner-ups, I'll tell him any information they want."

"Is that all?" Martin smirked. This would be way too easy. But when the information broker gave a twisted smirk in return, Martin saw there was more coming.

"Not quite." He snapped his fingers and one of his whores came behind Martin, probably the youngest in the group. Martin looked unamused at the girl roughly a year younger than him giving him teasing glances and trying to show off most off her skimpy pink dress. "The catch is that you can't let my girls distract you during the game. And be careful. They're quite skilled in the art of seduction." Some of the other patrons nodded or whistled in agreement. Martin's teeth gritted behind his shut mouth. Obviously, even with his disguise on, he still looked like what most people younger than him define as 'the ideal British hunk'. Tall, dark, handsome, a muscular physique above average but below bulky, somewhat tanned Caucasian skin, and an odor of Early Grey that confused other males if it was his natural scent or cologne, but drove some women mad. But despite the stereotype advantage of being a handsome villain, Martin had his British composure reminding him that he was a raised gentleman and if he were to manipulate women, it would be through cleverness and not seducing good looks.

Also, because he was composed enough to not use his striking physique to his advantage, he disdained being touched by the opposite gender when that side craved lust. Being pursued by Amelia Hall freaked him enough to still be a virgin at the age of 22. Almost everyone lost their pureness by that age.

"Fine," he said flatly. _Just block the whore's presence with other thoughts._

"Let us play then, gentlemen." One of the bodyguards shuffled the guards and passed them around to the patrons playing the game. Overall, that made six men playing, two of them being Martin and Big Daddy Brothersome. While many of the players obviously sorted their cards either by card color or number order, Martin did not budge his. If there's one thing he learned while playing that card game with other villains, is that it's a fatal mistake to arrange your cards. Your opponent can easily start figuring out how you arranged your cards, which can make him start calculating the probability of you pulling out a certain card with a certain number, color, or action.

The game started in clockwise order, with Big Daddy Brothersome taking the lead. As each patron's turn came up, Martin saw that that's when the whores start joining the dance. Stroking their cheeks, caressing the skin with their thumbs while their hands pressed onto the male necks in a close to strangling position... When Martin's turn came up, the whore instantly proceeded to caressing his face, her breath blowing in his ear. It was a good thing she blocked her attempt the same way you ignore a bug on your shoulder, so she couldn't distract him as he put on his card.

In a couple of minutes, the first round was over and Martin was above the rack of losers but second after Big Daddy Brothersome. The latter noticed the newcomer's sudden catching up to the game despite just joining, so when the second round came up, he gave a wink to the whore and she went to the phase of playing with his hair, occasionally sniffing in his dark locks for his strong Earl Grey odor. He remained unaffected and managed to still follow the leader once the second round was over. The game went on, the whores kept trying to distract the males with all their professional seduction, until eventually, only Martin was undeterred enough to face Big Daddy Brothersome in the runner-ups. The other patrons were raising their glasses for him. He was by far the first to play a twisted Uno game against the information broker and never lose his position as second best. They started to think that he might have a good chance of winning against the old man for a change.

"You're quite the player, Mr. Emeskif." Big Daddy Brothersome dared to admit. He winked at the whore as he spoke, but Martin immediately guessed that he was telling her to step up her game.

They went on with the final round. Martin took his precautions with the cards he placed. At the same time, his situation was starting to reach the uncomfortable zone when the whore started to hiss in his ear and slowly slip her hand under his collar. _Ignore_ , he ordered himself.

Lower numbers first. Then bring on the bigger numbers. More cards came and went. By the time they reached the final four cards, both men were starting to lose their patience. The whore finally got to Martin's nerves when she kept nudging his chin to turn towards her, but the main crack was when she tried lifting his shades. He dropped his final two cards: a red 'skip turn' card and a 'take four'. Big Daddy Brothersome sighed, but accepted his defeat. The patrons cheered, and the whore instantly moved out of the way when the shades fell off and the young man's shadowy grey eyes hissed at her to back off. Her reaction, both out fear and out of surprise, made the patrons realize whom they were dealing with.

Big Daddy Brothersome was the most pleased. "The sole symbol of what is left of our community's pride and dignity," he said. "How may I inform you?"

"Depends. Have you ever heard of the Lovaelia orchid?" Martin arched an eyebrow. "I could really use for one in my garden."

"Hm, a very unique flower indeed. When applied with the right industrial chemicals, it makes quite the powerful obedience chemical. Depending on how much you exploit its heart-shaped petals, the levels of its effects can go up to lethal hallucinations. Since they are so rare, they are no longer sold in the black market."

"Are there any plantations of them?" Martin insisted.

Big Daddy Brothersome nodded. "The world is big, but there's only one small villain and one large ego who have the biggest green garden in the villain community. I recall them having at least ten pots of the orchids...and they have a child at Y.E.A.R.N..."

Martin didn't need the old man to finish his sentence. He knew which villains he was talking about .

The only one idiotic enough to turn himself into a walking daisy and the only one that could tolerate the former's stupidity.

Melgo's parents.

Drakken and Shego.

Which meant that Martin had to go back to the Minalshari...twice in less than a week.

 _Meanwhile, back at Y.E.A.R.N_

RJ blocked another blow with her bo staff before the one the training assistant hit her in the face. Blindfolded, she waited for the next move.

Her special Physical Training class was now testing her on her instincts, something they said that would assist her in case a plan turned out wrong. The lessons were basically claiming that if her original plan for the heist failed, she'd have to rely on her instincts for how else she could steal the Hope Diamond.

 _A beginner in Tai Shing Pek War must know how to rely on his instincts_ , RJ remembered what she read in her book this morning before going to class. _Stay as silent as a tree when the wind blows through its leaves._ At first, she did not understand the statement when her training started, but then she realized that it meant she had to be patient and wait for a sign of movement before reacting.

The training assistant swung his bo staff at her heel in order to destabilize her, but as soon as she heard the movement of his staff, she blocked it with hers, grabbed the opponent's staff with one hand and swung it away across the room.

"A very good improvement," the professor said when she came down to applaud RJ. "I can tell you've been taking your lessons very well."

"Thank you." RJ nodded. It felt very good, being applauded for doing something physical, an exercise that she never practiced due to the lack of space in her life. It made her pride increase.

"However, you still have one problem." The professor took RJ's bo staff and cautiously poked the girl's right ankle. The area suddenly agitated and RJ began to slightly lose her balance. The teacher caught her by the arm before falling.

"What...was that?" RJ asked.

"Your left ankle's slightly weak. Probably from a large exposure of rough landing." The professor pondered until something seemed to have caught her thoughts. "Didn't your reputation say that you jumped off a building?"

"Yeah, I landed in a dumpster and then jumped onto an alley..." RJ cut herself. Her rough landing in the alley. Because of her fourteen years of no outside exposure, her legs took more time to get used to dragging their owner past gravity. RJ remembered the struggle. "I didn't think that I might have injured it."

The professor pursed her lips together. She bent down and examined the ankle further before asking RJ to walk as fast as she could around the training room. RJ made at least three turns around the place for two minutes until the professor told her to stop. "You're gonna have to hit the pause button on your physical training until your first heist."

RJ felt like her gut had been punched. "But wouldn't that delay my heist date?"

"If I'm correct, not only is your heist more about clever tricks than actual physical combat, but you're learning way much faster than most Y.E.A.R.N students do in a year," the professor said rather harshly. "Consider yourself lucky that you're getting such privileges, otherwise you'd be unable to be a villain with a crippled foot."

RJ said nothing. She just nodded her head and left once she was granted permission to head off to her next class. Her 'crippled foot' lazily dragged her to the Chemistry lab, where she took the first opportunity she had to punch onto the nearest table. With her mixed frustration, the Mystical Monkey Power reacted and caused her to actually make a dent on the table.

She found it unfair, being judged weak just because she had a slightly sprained ankle. Then again, she was in a world of villains. What did she expect? That they'd all gush over her and send her to the nearest hospital just because of a sprained ankle? Even her grandmother didn't take her to the hospital. She had enough medical education to make casts and give her granddaughter flu shots without having to call an ambulance.

Fortunately the Chemistry lab had a first aid kit, but it stood on top of one of the cabinets that only Mr. Barkin could reach standing up. RJ grumbled as she pulled the nearest chair towards the cabinet, planning on standing on her tiptoes in order to reach the kit...

"Dude, you're gonna fall in that pose. Seriously, allow me." Some girl came inside the room and shook the cabinet on the sides. The kit instantly landed in RJ's hands.

"Thanks." She looked at the girl who kicked the cabinet. It was some girl roughly close to her age, with dirty blonde hair tied up in two wild buns, wearing ripped blue denim shorts and a jacket, a sleeveless cropped pink tank top, and brown biker boots. Black headphones dangled on her neck, fingerless gloves and multiple tools were stuffed in her backpack, and all of her left arm was covered by a giant tattoo of a monster truck crashing its way through a cloud of dust (or skin) and screaming the printed words **EAT MY ROCKIN' GASOLINE, LOSER DUDES! SERIOUSLY!**

 **"** What's with your talus? Seriously," the girl asked RJ. The latter gave her a confused look as she sat on her chair to pull of her right boot. "I mean your ankle, seriously."

"Oh." RJ wasn't familiar with the weird slang the New Jersey-accented girl was using. "The professor said it might be a little sprained, so I'm bandaging it...seriously."

The girl smirked. "Glad to see another gal who speaks the car language!" She gave a rough pat on RJ's shoulder. The latter jumped on her seat. The pat was so rough, her backbones would have cracked! After she managed to recover, she went back to her ankle. Sure enough, she could see her veins popping on the skin covering her ankle.

"Uh oh," she grimaced.

"Eesh!" The biker girl grimaced. "How'd you get those creepy blue circulators?"

"I don't know." RJ bandaged her foot. "I guess I may have pressured it too far. You think I should see a doctor?"

"Dude, seriously? They never get the job done!" The biker girl threw her arms in the air. "The last time I let a doctor do my bones, I was in a body cast! Seriously! A gal should not be separated from her monster truck babies! Seriously!"

The words hit RJ in the head and sent her memories back to yesterday at the spa. Gilliard's voice rung like sirens as it repeated ' _He nearly succeeded in getting her crushed by her dad's monster truck when the dude came driving in'._ Buffy then echoed ' _Oy, I remember that day. It took hours to convince to convince Motor Ed that Edina needed a body cast.'_

"Are you...Melgo's cousin, Edina?" RJ asked.

"My cousin told me about you! SWEEEEEEEEET!" Edina jumped on the table and did an air guitar while squealing so loudly, RJ had to cover her ears. Seriously, the girl's voice was so loud when she screamed; one chair's legs fell apart. Edina then sat like an Indian on the table and faced RJ. "Did she tell you about my awesomeness in monster trucks or how I'm a mechanical wiz?" She asked with insane eagerness.

"Honestly? I only know three things about you." RJ made the lost with her fingers. "You skip the Y.E.A.R.N classes, two teachers retired because of your desire to conquer the world through monster trucks...and that you got stuck in a body cast because of you ticked off a British aristocratic snob." _Wow, the people I've encountered lately,_ she mentally contemplated. She'd only been half a week outside of her home and so far she had met weird people. A crazy cat lady, an evil corporation, a blue-skinned super-powered nerd, a mad golfer, an ex-heiress' kid, a fish boy mutant, a spa owner detailed in beauty, a British aristocratic snob who came from a family aiming for monkey world domination, and now a monster truck geek. What's the next thing to add on her list? A green man seeking revenge on the world?

"Yeah, getting stuck in the body cast was the worst crack I've done." Edina rubbed her neck. "Good thing I can get back behind the wheel! Seriously!"

If this were an anime, RJ would have felt a sweat drop and leak its way down her body while a cheesy voice would shout out of nowhere ' **EPIC MOMENT OF IDIOCY!'** She honestly couldn't believe how careless and dismissive Edina sounded. So, if RJ understood well, Edina didn't care if she got some bones broken as long as she could still drive?

"What's so big about driving for you?" She asked.

"You just asked that, seriously?" Edina snorted. "Every rockin chick in the Garden State loves the feeling of getting her hair blown as she cruises through a pile of dirt on her sweet ride while her nostrils get filled with the awesome scent of car oil and..." Edina froze when she noticed RJ's facial expression change. "Dude, you OK? Seriously?"

"I'm fine. I just..." RJ bit her morbid lip. "I...never drove in my life."

"You failed the test?"

"No. I couldn't even take it."

"Dude, that tanks! Seriously!" Edina jumped in indignation. "I learned how to drive when I was ten!"

"Isn't it against the legal age?"

"Not when your dad's Motor Ed, the leading expert in mechanical engineering and vehicles in the entire villain community. After I showed him that I was just as good at him..."

"In driving?"

"That and also in mechanics!" She took a wrench out of her backpack and spun it in between her fingers as if it were a mere pencil. "I can build any car or vehicle I want, from my very first bike to my very first monster truck. You've _got_ to see me drive it at tonight's monster truck rally!"

 _Shit!_ RJ completely forgot that this afternoon was going to be the monster truck rally. Almost everyone in Y.E.A.R.N and HenchCo were talking about it with excitement since dawn. Even Melgo had to be excused from classes because she had to help her parents prepare their house for the potluck party they were going to host after the rally. Edina's words made her remember that she completely forgot to ask Melgo if it would be alright for her to come.

"I don't know if I'll be going," RJ said. "I don't have a ticket or anything."

"Dude, you don't have to. Rally's free." Edina grinned. "And best part? I actually know someone who'll be at my uncle Drew and auntie Shego's potluck after the rally and who can easily fix that ankle of yours without doing any surgery."

RJ's eyes beamed. "For free?" This was just her luck! If she could get her ankle fixed by tonight, then she could say goodbye to any chance of not doing her heist for the Hope Diamond on Monday!

"She doesn't charge anything," Edina said, "but you will have to pay me."

This made RJ gulp. "I hope it's not cash you want."

"Why use cash when you can steal, seriously?" Edina shrugged. "Whatever. Just bring something to the potluck. Everyone's bringing a bite. Even my old man's bringing his oiled shrimp teriyaki." She stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"How about 12-can cases of soda?" RJ offered. "They sell cheap at Smarty Mart."

"Whatever rolls, sis. Most of the adults will be too busy puking from Killigan's haggis, the kids will need sugar to save them."

"Great! In that case I'll just buy a case of soda and cookie boxes!" RJ clasped her hands together. "That's doable for payback."

Edina chuckled. "Not so fast, Ginger," she said, using a brand new name for RJ rather than just ask for her name, "the grub is for coming to the potluck, but the price for the ankle is that later on, you're following me to the monster truck stadium."

"What am I supposed to do in a monster truck stadium? RJ frowned. _Doy, idiot! Sit in the bleachers and cheer!_ She mentally insulted.

"Seriously, you're going to be crashing in the stadium by learning how to drive a monster truck! Seriously!"

 _Later in the day_

The downtown stadium of the Minalshari was one of the most popular stadiums among the dozen that were located in the evil haven. More than fifty feet high and seventy feet long, the stadium hosted all the vehicle-related entertainments, all managed by Motor Ed, from racecars to monster trucks. Since the mullet king wasn't so much about the money, he never bothered charging for tickets, so any villain who wanted to watch the races could just barge in for free.

The best part? Because of developed technology, Motor Ed always managed to change the stadium into highly insane obstacles that you'd only seen in a video game. One year, the stadium had been modified to look like dirt dunes moving like a conveyer belt while giant rings magnetically hopped on the field, challenging the racers to drive and jump in zigzags as they raced for at least twenty minutes.

This year's terrain was insane. Motor Ed went as far as to fashion large utility poles spiking their way out of the dirty earth and the large, long mammoth cable wires were melted into some sort of dark metal see through trail that circled all over the spiked poles. It was bond to be an electrifying event.

And Martin wished he didn't have to go.

But what choice did he have? He had to get the Lovaelia orchid from Drakken and he knew that the only place he'd most likely find the stupid walking flower of a scientist right now would be at the monster truck rally.

He pinched his nose as he tried to make his way through the smelly bleachers. How his life ever managed to stay stable from luxurious fragrances to common garbage of sweat, soda, and fast food would always be a mystery to him. His eyes darted around for the VIP booth, where he was certain to find Drakken.

"MARTIN!" An all-powerful voice shouted and grabbed him up into the exact place he wanted to be but now wished he wasn't. So many eyes were looking at him.

"M...Mother?" Martin blinked as the Simian Witch let go of him and crossed her arm the same way her eyes gave him a crossed look. "H...How are you doing...here?" This was too embarrassing with the Seniors, Drakken and Shego, Duff Killigan, their kids, Gilliard, and all the Lipsky family friends looking at him like he screwed up.

"If you're asking how I'm doing and what I'm doing here," his mother said, "I'd say I'm doing well, I'm here because while your father is off to see Bates for urgent matters in Liverpool, I thought I'd go here to spend some time with my friend Shego before screaming at you for _WHY THE HELL DID YOUR BUST YOUR CREDIT CARD, MARTIN MONTGOMERY FISKE?_ " She screamed so loudly, it was a miracle that the rest of the crowd was deaf from only hearing Motor Ed shouting through the speakers as the racers made their way in.

"Mother, I can explain!" Martin said while the racers piled up and drove like madness while Motor Ed screamed out loud on the mike.

"I sure hope you can! Do you have any idea of the amount of money your father and I put into this?"

"Well..."

" **RJ**?"

Martin froze when he heard Melgo's bloody scream. Everyone on the VIP booth looked at her as she gripped her hands on the rail and glared at the racers smashing abandoned cars. But more importantly, she was staring at one of the rookie drivers. This one in particular was driving a lightning blue raptor all terrain vehicle crazier than the experts driving monster trucks ten times bigger than her own ride. One of them even got distracted by her flowing ponytail and ended up getting his monster truck impaled and electrocuted by a pole, rendering him as fried as barbecued bacon.

" **RJ, I know it's you!** " Melgo shouted. " **What the Hell do you think you're doing**?" But RJ seemed to be ignoring her and just hit the fuel, increasing the speed as she slashed her way through the trail, literally creating sparks of electricity.

"THIS IS AWESOOOOOOOMMMEE!" RJ was screaming with the crowd cheering at her.

" _Man,_ that girl's on fire!" Gilliard exclaimed. Without anyone noticing, Martin quickly stomped Gilliard on the foot, as if to remind him to watch it.

 _Only I should have her_ , he reminded mentally. "I didn't know RJ was into monster truck rallies," he pointed out loud.

"This has my cousin's name written all over it!" Melgo leaned back on the rail. "EDINA!"

"SUUUUUUUUUUUP!" A school bus sized monster truck with hot pink and blue flames sprayed all over the cockpit. Like a madman, she hammered her vehicle onto the trail, knocking away some of the competition.

"Edina, why did you let RJ onto the arena?" Melgo shouted.

"You gotta relax." Edina spoke her words whenever she got near the VIP booth after driving in circles. "Ginger just needs a driver's license, and what better way to get it by smashing through monster trucks? Seriously!"

"How about taking her to the nearest DMV, for instance?" Gilliard suggested.

While Melgo was busy screaming at her cousin, Martin's eyes were glued onto the arena. For someone who never drove in her life until now, RJ looked rather impressive. With her hazel eyes glued on the trail and her ginger blonde hair flowing behind her, she could have been a lioness daring to hunt down a herd of buffalo rather than an American vixen. And after some blinking, he noticed that RJ wore the traditional purple-and-black latex uniform that all the henchmen and Y.E.A.R.N students at HenchCo wore. Martin was never one to admire their style of fashion, but he had to admit that he thought the uniform actually worked well for RJ, to the point where it made her average form a whole lot womanlier. As RJ drove in circles, he noticed some light flashing onto her uniform's zipper right above the chest. For a moment, the idea of bringing it down and having her fragile skin further revealed was...

"Martin!" His mother snapped her fingers right by his ear. He instantly found himself waking up right when RJ did an impossible flip with her vehicle right above Edina's savage monster truck and hit the finish line.

"WOW!" Motor Ed shouted through the microphone and above the cheering crowd. "Looks like my kid just got diced by the rookie! Seriously! That was awesome! Seriously!"

"Yeah! Woo, woo!" In a sudden switch of attitude, Melgo was throwing her arms in the air. "That's my girl!"

"Oy, get a hold of yourself, lass!" Buffy teasingly pounded her on the shoulder before eventually sighing. "They do grow up so fast."

While everyone was busy going nuts over the race's ending, Martin tried to sneak his way through as best as he could.

"And where do you think _you're_ going?" the Simian Witch grabbed him by his shirt's collar.

"I..." He gulped. How on earth could he lie to his mother? "I need to speak with Drakken about a little personal man business." Technically, that wasn't a lie.

"Here's a thought. How about you talk to him _at_ the potluck _after_ I massacre you?"

 _Later_

RJ really couldn't believe the things she had dealt through this week, but today was probably the best day so far.

Winning a monster truck rally? Epic. She only learned how to drive in less than two hours thanks to Edina's mad skills, and since Jack Hench was apparently watching from his TV back in the office, one of his clerks had stopped by to let her know that she'd won future special training in the transportation handling.

The crowd of villains had been circling her with questions, comments, and admirations. After Buffy accidently let it slip that she was the new Y.E.A.R.N student who had jumped down a building, RJ got a whole new fan club buzzing her with curiosity. Where had she come from? How did she manage to get such amazing skills? At first it felt weird, but at the same time, RJ couldn't help but appreciate the fact that for the first time in her life, people were worshipping her like she was some sort of female Moses.

At least she got to keep the raptor all terrain, with Edina promising to return it after she did some modifications.

It was now 8pm. Keeping her promise with Edina, she had come to the potluck with sodas and cookies for the kids' table. Once that was placed, she rushed to the bathroom to change into an outfit other than her now dirty Y.E.A.R.N uniform. In three minutes she came out in a red cardigan blouse covering a black tank top, and black tight jeans with matching strapped sandals, and her hair brushed down into its normal loose state.

"Fancy you," Melgo commented with a smirk when RJ came into the living room. "Camillo's gonna like the fact that you're wearing his trends after."

"Thanks. Fancy... Honestly, I can't even tell if this is an apartment!" RJ gawked at Melgo's domicile. Because of her past experience, RJ always thought that an apartment meant a small place to live in like the one she spent the most time cooped in. The one that Melgo lived in with her parents, however, was completely different. It was located in this condo carved right into this rocky artificial mountain in the Minalshari, which made it look like one of those mountain-carved hotels that you'd find in places like Greece, except each apartment was actually a modern mansion made of stone sticking out of the mountain. On the outside, Melgo's family's mansion (excuse me, 'apartment') was made of white and grey stones with one heck of a balcony courtyard with miniature potted eucalyptus and cypress trees, a bird fountain fashioned like the Escher staircase, carved benches and chairs shaped like swans, and a giant pool shaped like Melgo's father's head. As for the inside, it looked like a modern household clashing with an art gallery: green-and-black abstract paintings, white carpeted floor, black leather seats with a large mahogany dining table and coffee table in the dining and living area, an annexed kitchen with an island that made the kitchen look more like a bar, too many rooms upstairs, so many floral decorations and even the two poodles had their own car sized dog 'apartments'. "If I didn't know you, Melgo, I'd think you were a celebrity or something!"

"You're not the first." Melgo chuckled. "I give people the vibe that I live in a scientific lab. Oddly enough, my dad makes more money as a megalomaniac florist than a world conquering wannabee!"

"I heard that!" A man shouted from the living room area, causing some of the guests to laugh. Melgo looked up and grumbled. RJ later saw that Melgo was irritated by a bunch of vines hanging from the ceiling and forming a green eye at the girls.

"Dad! What did we say about you using your vines to spy on me?" Melgo stormed off to seemingly nuke the man away. RJ chuckled. Good thing she had no parents to humiliate.

Her throat started to dry up, so she decided to go fetch herself a beverage. Luckily for her, the buffet wasn't just limited to just the kids' table and the adults' table, but also a table for all the generations, and from what she heard throughout the spreading rumors, Melgo's mother made quite a fruit punch.

Shego herself was pouring the punch into cups when RJ reached the black tablecloth covered table. "Let me guess, you want a cup too?" She asked RJ drily.

"If it's OK with you," RJ said politely. She couldn't believe how close Melgo and Shego were alike. True, when it came to skin, hair color, and clothing, Melgo and her father were alike, but the way her hair and feminine traits were curved made the former look more like her mother. Talk about perfect combinations of the two parents in one child.

Shego smirked at the comment and poured a cup for RJ. The moment she handed the cup to RJ and the latter thanked her, her green eyes temporarily froze at her. RJ felt slightly uncomfortable. "Am I...supposed to pay for the punch?"

"No." Shego shook her head. "I'm sorry. I mistook you for someone I know."

RJ frowned. She then brought her cu to her lips and swallowed quite a bit of the green-colored punch. Her eyes widened. "Wow! _That_ is yummy!"

"Glad you like it," Shego said. "I made it very often as I raised Melgo... Then again, I had to make sure I locked up her chemistry kit whenever I decided to make some punch for her."

That comment made RJ chuckle. "Must have been annoying to clean up the mess," she said.

"Believe me, it was even more annoying when she jammed my recipe and gave it to her poodle puppy to drink when she was twelve. It took about a month for Admiral Splashy to regrow his fur and now he's permanently purple." She waved her ladle at the other end of the room, where a young poodle with pink skin and large masses of fluffy purple fur was roughly playing with the fabric of one of the guests' pants, making the others laugh as the dog succeeded in ripping of Señor Senior Junior's pants and make him squeal like a girl while his hands tried to hide his Oh Boyz trousers. Seeing the scene made RJ put her cup back on the table. Shego shook her head in amusement.

"Yo, Ginger!" The women turned their heads and saw Edina come over with another woman. The latter looked like she was in her late thirties and oddly youthful for a woman getting close to the half of her life, from RJ's perspective. Her denim blue eyes each had vertical white scars that looked like she went through a lot. She wore a plain teal long sleeved sheath dress and black cocktail high heels, and her large mass of brown hair with hints of white was brushed down towards her hips. Her only signs of jewelry was a blue ring on her right hand.

"I got the expert who can fix your ankle, Ginger." Edina patted RJ's shoulder. Before the introductions could be made, the woman grabbed Shego's ladle and instantly hit RJ in the sore area. Good thing Edina covered RJ's mouth to keep the girl from screaming so loudly.

"Silvia!" Shego hissed.

"What?" Silvia shrugged. "I had to make sure I found the area." She leaned down and waved her hand around RJ's ankle. The young lad instantly felt her muscle relaxing, a hint that her left ankle was getting healed. However, the moment she looked down to see Silvia remove her hand, she felt electric butterflies in her stomach, because she did not miss the glowing red monkeys that dissolved into smoke on the woman's fingertips. It took her less than a minute to figure out who 'Edina's expert' was.

"T... Thanks for your help," she struggled out a smile, which the others translated as a shy gratitude and not RJ realizing that if she overreacted and accidentally let her power out, the Simian Witch would surely kill her.

"Anytime." The Simian Witch rubbed her temples. Seeing her stress, Shego gave her a cup of punch and another one for Edina.

"Already getting stressed from retirement, Silvia?" Shego mused. "You're not even close to mid-crisis."

"If I could have a retirement from parenthood, let me know where I can sign up!" The sorceress snapped. "My son's impossible!"

RJ felt her body stiffen a bit at the mention of the snob. Discomfort caught her at the core when she remembered the nasty nightmare she had of being sick sweethearts and making out with the man last night. She shook her head.

"What did he do this time?" Edina rolled her eyes in between sips. "Steal a monkey from a zoo?" She snorted and gave a nudge to RJ, causing her to be amused...partially.

"No, and this is rich! He busts a large amount of his credit card money at a spa _in the_ Minalshari, spirits away to the _Monte Carlo Casino_ , and now he's into _gardening_! I ask for a child to bear my legacy along with my husband's, and what do I get? A twenty-two-year old man who dares to lie to his own mother!" She raised her arms in the air.

"What he lie about?" Shego asked in a casual tone.

"Oh, like how he wouldn't tell me why he bought two bottles of honey from the Beaufox Spa! Believe me, when Martin lies, I can see his Adam's apple moving through his skin like heart pulses!"

"OK, that's gross." Shego commented.

RJ didn't want to hear the rest of it. She quickly skimmed the area until she found a door that was unopened, unlike the rest in of the other doors. GREEN ROOM, DO NOT ENTER IN MASSES. After giving a quick excuse of needing the restroom, she left the women, easily dodged the loud crowd of drunken guests, and reached the handle, pulling it and pushing her way in. Her lungs heaved rapidly in her ribcage as she shut the door and leaned on it, panting until her eyes got distracted by the room itself.

The green room was an entirely green-themed room, as she expected, but an actual indoor, wild roaming greenhouse. The night sky looked so real, it made the glass walls and skylight look invisible despite the green support green. Green long grass covered the entire floor and brushed onto RJ's bare feet as she dared to explore nature's wonderland. Diverse trees rose like mountains made of palm trees, oaks, eucalyptus, pine, bonsai, and blooming pink cherry trees and magnolias. Cacti were growing in green rows on a small patch of sand acting as a beach to a small pond with swimming piranhas and floating water lilies, colorful flowers grew together in a lined up army of rainbows, green jungle vines hung on the ceiling to form a living chandelier...The description of this indoor ecosystem is so long that this story would never end.

As RJ looked around and marveled at the sights, she heard a strange plucking sound coming from behind a bush at her right. Curiosity killed the cat as it led her to the bush and peak behind it, where dozens of tropical trees were planted. Peculiar orchids with pink heart-shaped petals grew on the barks and slithered their way up to the branches. Two trees away, somebody was hanging upside down from a branch in order to pluck out the petals from the highest orchids and put them in a vial. For a moment, RJ was stunned that the person was able to keep himself on the branch while his hands were busy collecting petals...

Hold on.

"British snob?"

Martin Fiske lost his balance and fell a good three feet into the grassy excuse of a cushion. RJ panicked and rushed to see if he had broken his bones. Last thing she wanted was for the Simian Witch to break _hers_.

"One of these days, you'll be the death of me," he muttered. His arms went up and pulled him up in a straight shape, making him look like a robot automatically standing up. He straightened the black tuxedo suit he was wearing and quickly picked up his vial, making sure he had all the petals he picked before he put on a cork.

"Never saw you as the green thumb," RJ commented as he stuck his vial within his jacket's inner suit. "Since when does a British aristocratic snob pick flowers?"

"Depends." He shrugged. "Since when does a fragile American vixen play with all terrain vehicles?"

RJ scowled. "I'm even shocked you were there."

"Then you won't be the next time." He sat back on the grass and picked up something that was sitting by the base of the tree, a pair of leather town shoes. Grunts of pain came out of his teeth while he forced the things onto his monkey feet.

"Wouldn't be easier for you to go barefoot?" The question of curiosity came out like that out of her mouth.

"I wish!" Martin kicked his left foot into the last shoe. "Unfortunately for me, shoes are required for formal events, gloves mandatory when I sneak in public, non-evil society. Last thing I want is for the police to start chasing me in fancy places."

 _Right, I forgot you were wanted in countries that make one fifth of this one_ , her head snapped.

Martin struggled to get up, grunting as his hand used the tree trunk as support. He grimaced even more as he stood up. "Blisters," he muttered.

"Gee, I bet it hurts _so_ badly," RJ snickered with a smug, "maybe you'll go broke just from paying a foot rub at the Beaufox Spa!"  
In between his scowling of pain, Martin Fiske managed to get his eyebrows to sternly frown. "I see my generosity is not being held in your high regards."

"Generosity?" RJ laughed and leaned her head. "I could come up with a list of descriptive adjectives for an iniquitous being like you, but 'generous' wouldn't be in my dictionary!"

A laugh came out of him. It was a small chuckle that actually turned into a low, but grave monkey laughter, which actually made RJ uneasy. He did not sound at all like the funny cartoon monkeys from TV shows but more like the actual wild beasts they showed in documentaries, mocking the predators as they saved themselves through the labyrinth of trees. Now RJ could understand why Melgo and some other villains thought that the Fiskes' obsession with monkeys was insane: they must have at some point decided to drop everything and turn into the vicious animal that dangerously blended in with the human crowd.

"I'm impressed!" He paced and pointed a finger at himself. "So if I'm understanding well, you see me as the vile one while the rest of your baby community are a bunch of angels! Then again, it would make sense! You spent only four days here and you're mostly warming up to the HenchCo dogs keeping you by their leash with the promise of treats like snakes provoking you to a forbidden fruit! You're hopelessly naive."

"AM NOT!" RJ snapped.

"Really?" Martin arched an eyebrow as he walked towards her, making RJ want to shrink as he grew closer like an enlarging shadow. "Instantly making friends? Making your way into a monster truck race with no knowledge on how to drive in one day? Pretty clothes from an expensive fashion store? Getting favoritism from Jack Hench for your talents even though they come from a simple girl with no understanding of how the world works? I might be a _British aristocratic snob_ , but I don't get spoiled that easily."

RJ gulped. She must not let his words get the best of her. "So I get favoritism on my first week, big whoop," she said. "What are you going to do? Break my neck?" Bad choice of words, because one of his hands was now cupping her neck. He didn't tighten to strangle her, but he did keep his hold firm, as to tell her that he could do it if it pleased him. The hair on his hand brushed themselves onto the skin below the feminine chin. She had to bite her lip. The warm, oddly soft feeling they had was tantalizing.

"I could snap your bones one by one until only a molehill is left," he said quietly. "I could torture your mind until you spilled out your secrets to me. I could break your spirit, making your life meaningless. Such things I could do...but won't do to you."

"Why? Because I'm a girl and your gentleman etiquette forbids you?" RJ stared at him while he loosened his grip and pulled his hand away...just before he used it to hold RJ's hand, forcing her into feeling shock waves.

"More like...I find you dangerously alluring."

His comment made her want to melt even more as he did a bow and gave the trapped hand a small kiss. RJ felt herself burning, especially when she could have sworn she felt his teeth forming a smirk while he was presenting her, no, _mocking_ her, with a traditional respecting form that old-fashioned gentlemen did to women.

He let go of her hand. "I'll be seeing you around."

And right when grabbed herself by the wrist as if it were made of stone, she looked up and saw the snob out of sight.


	10. Let's Make A Bad Bet

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 10: Let's Make A Bad Bet

 _I find you dangerously alluring._

Just the way he had told her that was enough to keep RJ from sleeping at all in the evening. Her brief third encounter with Martin Fiske had troubled her enough that she had to excuse herself from the party, putting the lie that she had a headache from all the energetic actions she dealt with today. Fortunately, Melgo's mother had been nice enough and offered to drive RJ back to Y.E.A.R.N in her green Volvo car, but despite the soothing car ride and Shego entertaining her with stories of her husband's ridiculous but creative machines to conquer the world, RJ could still not cope with the confrontation she had in the green room.

" _Fiske Junior got you jumbled?_ " Shego had ended up asking her when they approached HenchCo.

" _How did you find out_?" RJ had asked.

" _I don't have to. His apathetic personality always hits other people the first time they meet him._ " The woman had shrugged.

" _He's definetly confusing._ " RJ had shaken her head. " _Was he always like this_?"

" _Only after his parents got cursed and he had to spend seven years without them. And when they were released, their time with him was overshadowed by the time they wanted for themselves in retirement, which deepened his want to be alone from others aside Gilliard. Consider yourself lucky that you don't have to deal with parents. If there's one thing worst than not having parents, it's having parents that are never around for you, which puts a strain on your relationship."_

RJ had been more confused than ever. Luckily for her, the Y.E.A.R.N library was still open after Shego dropped her off, so she was able to locate and borrow old newspapers and villains' magazines for her to read. All the way until 11:30, she had read the glorious days the older villains she had met had experienced _years_ before she even was born. Hypnotizing shampoos, covering the world into one golf course, stealing monster trucks, robotic invasion, etc. Reading these deeds was much more interesting to RJ than watching dull politic news on TV.

Some of the articles had hit on the Fiskes, with pictures of a much younger and beautiful Simian Witch and a man whom RJ assumed was Monkey Fist because he looked like an aged version of Martin aside from the shadowy grey eyes and the youthful handsome physique Martin had...

" _GAAH!_ " RJ had slapped herself physically for even thinking that the jerk of a snob was handsome.

The articles had been bragging that while the world was full of amazing villains, the Fiskes were by far the best evil _couple_. Planning on turning all humans into monkeys while at the same time getting engaged, throw the best wedding and baby birth party the villainous community had ever seen... RJ had to give it to them, the Fiskes sounded quite impressive. The articles then got grimmer, talking about how much the villains missed the Fiskes after they turned into and out of statues and finally retired from evil because of side effects, and that while everyone was glad that Martin was keeping on their legacy through his impressive works, there were still words on how much he was hated. A total recluse from social peers, rejecting women who barely had the chance to start wooing him, and making the authorities focus solely on chasing him than the others... He was as hated as he was loved and he didn't really seem to care what others thought of him.

 _But if he's such a cold-hearted villain, why did he call me dangerously alluring?_ Such thoughts were enough to keep her tossing and turning, she wasn't able to properly sleep even at 3am. ' _Dangerously alluring'_ kept echoing like heart beats whenever she tried to close her eyes and the vision of her making out with the bastard on a roof was enough to make her bolt out of her bed and run to the bathroom to splash herself with cold water. Hopefully it brought her senses together as much as it now kept her awake.

RJ checked her drenched reflection and felt a mix of relief and confusion. Relief speaking, she was glad to find her average self: aside from her new talents, she had nothing that could physically appeal the others unless she was at Très Chez Léon shopping for clothes. She wasn't an ugly mouse nor was she one of those Minalshari villainesses with insane beauty and curves, which meant she was normal looking and therefore she risked nothing. _But why the Hell did he call me 'dangerously alluring'?_ That was all she couldn't figure out.

Unlike him, she was nothing. He had firm yet present parents while hers practically abandoned her, he had gone around the world while she mostly stayed in Colorado, he had little friends since childhood while she just started making some, he was rich while she didn't even own a bank account, and while she was barely above average, he was downright gorgeous.

"GAAH!" RJ splashed herself with more water. Her power certainly did not help at all, since it agitated once RJ splashed herself on the face the second time. It electrocuted the humid areas and made her body feel so jumped, she saw her hair looking frizzled. "It's fine..." She took a deep breath and grabbed her hairbrush, taking slow strokes to even out the ends. "I just have to avoid him to remain sane."

 _Avoid that hunk?_ Judging by her power weirdly vibrating at the same time as her worst self, RJ instantly guessed that the power must have had a conscious of its own. "Shut up," she told it.

 _Why should I? After all your newborn denial, he fascinates you as much as he disgusts you. Even I find_ _ **his**_ _power attractive._

"What are you talking about?" RJ stopped brushing herself and looked in the mirror. She saw her normal self until she saw her reflection changing. Her hazel eyes were now icy blue and her smirk cruel while the original body itself did anything but smile. "Who the Hell are you?"

 _Who do you think?_ The reflection smirked. _I'm you. Only_ _ **I'm**_ _willing to embrace what I am._

"A reincarnation of Mystical Monkey Power?" RJ asked drily. Unsurprisingly, the reflection smirked.

 _In a way, yes. Except I'm far better than you. I am much stronger... I am pure evil, and unlike you, I have no problem spilling blood and impaling hearts. Unlike you, I am not_ _ **weak**_ _..._

RJ didn't want to hear the rest of it after she smashed the mirror. Despite her bleeding hand, she grabbed her coat and threw it over her nightwear, stuffed her feet into her sneakers before running out of her apartment, hearing the evil laughter echo behind her.

 _Later_

Martin wished he could slap himself if it weren't for the fact that he was driving out of the Minalshari on a rental bike. _You just HAD to admit you find her dangerously alluring!_ His brain screamed.

"Not my fault if she's tormenting me!" Martin protested.

 _Someone's in denial._

He grumbled as he drove closer to the main exit tunnel through a trail in the artificial woods. Despite the real-life odors, he could easily tell how manmade they were because of the night sky reflecting on the branches and the distant blue blast from across the field...

Martin hit the brakes and looked at his right. Just behind a hill, the only one without a sign of trees or wild life, was being illuminated by a series of blue flashes that kept coming and going like small fireworks. Judging by how his Mystical Monkey Power-perked senses were agitating, Martin could tell that this wasn't a HenchCo stunt or one of Drakken's old gizmos goofing off in the middle of the night. He pulled his rental bike into a thicket for hiding and cautiously knuckle-walked his way before poking from behind a tree.

He was surprised to find RJ all by herself in a clearing, but what shocked him the most was her state. She was kneeling on the grass, her hands gripping her ginger blonde mane, and her body was glowing in an intense electrifying blue aura that burned bolts terrifying nearby squirrels. Hearing the bolts make screeching noises as it moved caused Martin to gasp.

"Impossible." He said it quietly. "RJ... has Mystical Monkey Power?"

"Please! Just leave me alone!" He heard RJ scream and looked further. The girl looked like she was going mad from a hallucination that she was talking too. More blue bolts covered RJ, darkening some of her skin like burns and making her scream even more.

 _Great Hanuman, the power is trying to consume her!_

No time needed to be wasted, he ran out of his hiding spots, ditching the passing bolts, and hammered two of his fingers on RJ's temples, pressing in. The power sunk its way back into RJ's brain and hissed angrily like water being dragged in a vortex. RJ stopped screaming, but the moment her eyes saw Martin behind her, she pulled herself at least two feet away from him.

"RJ, you... you have Mystical Monkey Power too?" He asked in awe. Her eyes went wide and the next thing he knew, she was practically groveling.

"Alright, you caught me! Just don't kill me, I BEG YOU!" Tears came to her face and drooled their way down to the earth. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

Martin grabbed her by the shoulders to restrain her. "RJ, stop it! The more emotionally stressed you get, the more the power will overwhelm you!"

"You... you saw her too?" RJ stammered.

"Her who?"

"I don't know who she was! I just..."

"Deep breaths, RJ."

"Alright!" RJ breathed. Despite her lungs slowing down towards calmness, Martin could still see she was stressed. "I saw this... thing that looked like me, except she... it said she was everything that I wasn't. It said things on how it had no problem... being a heartless murderer."

Martin nodded. "Figures."

"Please don't kill me," RJ begged.

"For crying out, I'm not going to kill you!" Martin said, trying his best to remain calm himself. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd be incinerated in the middle of this clearing!"

RJ looked around her. A couple of trees got their barks burned pretty badly and the grass was coal black. " _I_ did that?"

"I certainly didn't." He put a thumb under RJ's chin and forced it up, paining her to look at him right in the shadowy grey eyes. "So. About you possessing Mystical Monkey Power..."

"Right." RJ gulped while he kept staring at her. " Look, I don't know why I have it and I don't really want to find out, but I was told that if I hardly used it, I wouldn't be caught and..." She gulped one more time. "You and your folks would kill me for being competition."

Martin scowled. RJ had made a good point. If she had been an enemy of the Fiskes like Ron Stoppable and possessed the power, then he would have certainly killed her. But honestly, he didn't know how to make of their current relationship, and since he was already planning on making her his... Good Lord, what if this was another sign about the reasons of his traumatic pursuit? Not only did she obsess because he 'deserved' her but she also happened to have powers Martin himself owned?

He must have hit the jackpot!

"We're leaving," he said firmly. He reached his hand out to grab RJ's shoulder and pull her up, but she was far too quick and jumped up first.

"Whoah, whoah, WHOAH!" She waved a finger at him. "I'm not going anywhere with _you_ of all the crazy people I met! No, I'm sorry, you're not _one of the craziest_ , but _the craziest_!"

"Is it because of the monkeys, because that wouldn't be the first time I heard it?"

"Please!" RJ rolled her eyes. "I've met a bunch of weird people that go from crazy cat ladies to world cruising monster trucks drivers this week, but you are the only jackass I met!"

Martin scowled. "I see you're still living in your little fantasy," he muttered. "Your mere weak, naive self was the reason why your power was rebelling. If the Mystical Monkey Power saw how helpless you really were, it would give it a good reason for it to viciously manifest, possess you, and then you'd be the empty shell controlled by the monster you fear of becoming." He pulled the same stunt he did back at the party and held her by the neck. "Face it, vixen. Without any proper tutelage _from me_ , you are nothing!"

RJ's face gave out an angry expression and her body glowed again. She aimed to burn his hand with her bolts, but he also glowed. His light was more red and strong enough to create a shield protecting him from her power and reflecting back at her. She got an electric shock that just perked her up rather than knock her out.

Martin chuckled. "You see?" He let go of her and she fell back on the grass. "Your lack of discipline lets your emotions and power burst to their leisure. But with _me_ , all the knowledge you'd have will not only grant you control but a powerful villain status."

RJ got up and spoke up, undeterred: "I don't care if I can become a powerful villain. I can very much keep myself under control _without_ you in the picture!"

"Really? If that's the case, I think that a little bet is in store." He used his right hand to grab hers, and before RJ could say anything, he mumbled something that sounded like a Hindu incantation and it caused their hands to glow with red skeletal simian smoke.

"What...what are you doing?" RJ gasped.

"Making an oath for our bet," he said. "Here's the deal, RJ. We're still in the middle of April and I'm guessing you'll have your first heist coming up soon. If you can manage to keep your Mystical Monkey Power under your control without _anyone's_ guidance, I'll sincerely apologize for calling you weak and will leave you be. But, if you fail, you'll quit Y.E.A.R.N and take the next step by becoming _my_ apprentice, therefore _belonging_ to _me_!"

RJ looked infuriated. "I could _never_ be your slave!" She hissed.

"You could always forfeit," Martin shrugged, "but that mean taking you by force right now."

She bit her lip. Obviously she wasn't going to forfeit. "How much time do I have to prove myself?"

"Two weeks maximum, just before May 1st, or until you weaken to the point where I need to save you again, therefore placing you in a debt."

"That's fair for the first but creepy for the second." RJ sighed and shook her glowing hand. "Fine! You get your bet."

He smirked and let go of her hand, ceasing the glow, and waved at the direction of the road. "Shall I give you a ride back to Y.E.A.R.N?"

"I hope your crazy," RJ said. "Besides, didn't you tell me that I should be keeping myself under control?"

"This is not about you taking control but me being a mocking chivalrous 'jackass'." Martin quoted her insult with the same tone. "Not to mention that strange things can happen in the woods. Imagine what I would do if I were a 'creep' lurking in the woods and I stumbled upon a helpless, half-undressed girl."

To his amusement, RJ blushed in embarrassment and desperately tried to cover with her jacket the black strapless slip she was wearing. Martin had to admit it but that fashionista Camillo Leon did have a way of making women night clothing to the point that even a simple rag could help average sizes like RJ's stand out.

The girl groaned in frustration and scowled as Martin offered a mocking 'gentleman prepared to escort lady to a ball' hand.

"I hope you eat dirt when you lose," she said as she took his hand.

"Well I can personally bet that you'll be wearing an average-sized _furisode_ when _you_ lose," he replied with a smug.

 _Meanwhile, unaware to anyone else_

A green computer screen had managed to hack into an Earth satellite and report to the hacker the conversation of two certain people. As alien dialect moved on the screen, doing analysis on the two individuals, it instantly froze on the girl. The hacker, disguised in the shadows of wherever he was, got up and used his fingers to zoom up the image until the image gave him a better visual of the girl's facial characteristics.

" _The resemblance is uncanny_ ," he snickered. " _Ronilda Stoppable._ "

 _Elsewhere, at the Global Justice Headquarters_

"Dr. Director?" Agent Will Du knocked and stepped inside the office of Global Justice's main leader. "We have news."

"How bad is it?" The woman had quite aged into a woman in her fifties, but she was still strong and healthy enough to run Global Justice with all her gray hair.

"Concerning. Our global security system has noticed that someone hacked into a military satellite and no matter how much we tried, we couldn't figure out who sent the virus."

Dr. Director aimed her frown at a board on her wall. It was filled with a map of the Earth and its hovering satellites and the outer space, multiple areas pinpointed with push pins or connected with red yarn. Sticky notes full of question were pasted everywhere. She frowned at Will Du. "Tell them to keep tracking. I don't want to end up with the same scenario from two decades ago."

Will Du nodded. "I'll be the agents and scientists on watch..." He stopped when there was a sudden knock on the door and an agent stepped in, accompanied by some old woman with grey hair, a purple wool dress and flats, and striking blue eyes.

"I beg your pardon, Director," the agent said, "but Dr. Possible is here?"

"Dr. Possible?" Dr. Director and Will Du when they saw the mother of the retired teen heroine inside the office while the agent left off.

"It's a surprise to see you after so long, Mrs. Possible," Dr. Director said as she and her fellow senior shook hands. "Global Justice has stopped hearing from ever since Team Possible went underground and your husband died in that rocket accident. How are things?"

Dr. Possible sighed and sat on the nearest chair. Judging by the fight against her tearful eyes, the Global Justice agent and director could tell that something was up. "My granddaughter... she's gone!" She dropped her head in her palm.

"Your...granddaughter?" Dr. Director frowned.

"There was no data about Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable having children," Will Du said. Before he could pull out his PDA and have an info lookup, the old woman pulled out a photo and showed it to them. They gasped when they saw what looked like a teenager clone of the former teen heroine and her sidekick combined. "Her mother's body structure, her father's skin tone and eyes, and the two hair colors combined into one... No doubt about it! I'd have to be blind to not see that this teenager is the daughter of Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable!"

"How come we never knew about her?" Dr. Director asked Mrs. Possible as Will Du passed the photo to the former.

Kim Possible's widowed mother sighed and wiped away her tears. "Let's just say my daughter inherited her father's overprotective nature except she went paranoid. Right when I retired after my husband's death, I was going to move into my new retirement penthouse until Kimmie and Ron came, bringing along their only child. The sweet thing was napping while her parents placed her in my guardianship and made me promise that she would never set foot outside nor have contact with anyone from outside my penthouse. For the last fourteen years, I had to raise her by myself in the apartment while making sure nobody knew she existed..."

"Hold on!" Dr. Director cut her off. "Are you telling me that for the last fourteen years, you raised Team Possible's child while keeping her locked up in an apartment?"

"They made me promise not to let her out!"

"So you did all the tutoring, the medical attention, and the nutrition?"

"Anything that would be part of raising a child." Dr. Possible sighed. "But I _never_ thought the child would succeed in escaping!"

"Do you know how she escaped?" Will Du asked.

"Well..." Now the woman looked terrified. "When I went to check on her in the morning earlier this week, I found her bed empty and the window open with a rope dangling from a sticking pipe and it's a seventy-foot tall building! I searched the ground area where the rope seemed to extend to, but I didn't find her there! I drove all over town to see if I could spot her, but she was nowhere in Middleton, Upperton, and Lowerton!"

"Have you contacted the police?"

"No. If I did, they would have asked for her records, and her parents had Wade burn them. You see, they were worried that if the supervillain gallery found out their main enemy had a child, they'd use her to get to them. Therefore, without information on her, they couldn't get to her. Kimmie and Ron still don't know yet that their little girl is missing, and that's why I came to you. Could you help me find my granddaughter without, you know, giving away her existence to the world and having her parents murder me?"

Dr. Director rubbed her chin in thought as her eye examined her board. "Global Justice is already in a pickle with tracking down and preventing any possible sign of another alien invasion," she said, "and the last thing we need is for Earth's supervillains to have a civil war because Team Possible's kid went rogue."

"If I may, Director," Will Du spoke up, "I could gather a mere dozen of agents to lead a discreet investigation and find the girl's whereabouts."

"Very well."

"Oh, thank you!" Dr. Possible almost ran to give out a hug until the other woman stopped her.

"But let's be clear. I can't have my entire agency dragged into one investigation. If we don't find the girl, you'll have to tell her parents the truth. Understand?"

Dr. Possible pulled back and nodded.

"I do have one more question," Will Du said. "Does she have Mystical Monkey Power?"

 _Back at the Minalshari_

" **What**?"

This was by far the weirdest Saturday ever. After getting a ride back to Y.E.A.R.N from the Lord-Of- Slavery-Bets, RJ had been unable to sleep that she ended up taking a cold shower and drinking caffeinated soda at 6am and using the Tai Shing Pek Kwar book as a guide in meditation. Fortunately, meditating for two straight hours has helped her calm down her power, but it didn't help feel less nervous about the bet she had made with Martin Fiske. Deciding to take a chill pill elsewhere, she changed and decided to troll around the Minalshari Mall, a place she grew to appreciate, and just to her luck, Camillo Leon wasn't opening his shop until later in the day, so when they stumbled upon each other on the first floor, he offered to take her to brunch at the café next door.

"A furisode is a kimono worn by unmarried women," Camillo Leon said. RJ had just told him the story (with hidden details) of how she made a bet with Martin Fiske that if she didn't show him she was capable of self-controlling herself (and her Mystical Monkey Power, which he now knew she had), she'd become his apprentice. She said the 'what' and almost chipped her cup of coffee after she told Camillo of Martin's furisode comment and the latter told her what it meant.

"I'm not surprised, given his tastes in Asian mystics." Camillo shook his head. "I won't lie, _chérubin_ , furisode kimonos are fascinating to wear, especially during the cherry blossom seasons, but just hearing that the most complex high classed man thinks that a virgin roughly six years younger than him would look good in a furisode makes me want to vomit."

"I feel ya, I don't know what's worst!" RJ facepalmed herself. "The comment, or that I could be forever stuck with the worst man ever!"

"I wouldn't say he's 'the worst man'." Camillo put some sugar in his jasmine tea while the waitress brought over their appetizers filled with hash browns and croque-monsieurs. "Like I said, he's the most complex high class."

"But... he insulted you the first time I saw him!" RJ poked her fork at the tantalizing potato cubes.

"Is that why you constantly dislike him? Because of his temper over a high-priced piece of clothing?" Camillo shook his head and chuckled with nice amusement. " _Chérubin_ , it's sweet that you wanted to stand up for me, but you jumped too quickly on conclusions." RJ frowned as he continued. "I've seen people come and adore my works or hate them and leave. It's the way the world works. Honestly, aside from Fiske, I've dealt with a majority of _paysans_ complaining to me that the prices are outrageous."

"And his usual jerk attitude?" RJ questioned.

"Granted, he has his moments. But I'm aware that he's got his main reason from isolating himself. He has _la peur_ of making multiple friends outside of his family's circle, I've never seen him interact with any other young folk Gilliard aside."

RJ blinked and almost missed her bite of hash browns. "He's... _afraid_ of social interaction? But why?"

Camillo shrugged as he took bites from the croque-monsieurs. "How can we all know? Martin was born in a time before most of us, back in an era where villains were _célèbres_ among the wanted ads. In an era where he was forced to spend seven years without his parents since he was a baby, never knowing when he'd see them again and spending all his time preparing for their reunion. _Naturellement_ , they now spend more time with each other in their retired status than with him, full of energy and eager to please them. The next fourteen years have made him rather...cynical about trying to reach out to others emotionally, unless it was an emergency.

"And I can say it's the same for us." He waved his hand to indicate the café and the city before them. "Look _autour de toi_ , RJ. Most of us from the younger generation were born from villains that made history, but now the world prefers to ignore us and we are now sheltered in this hidden paradise living the way normal 'evil' people would. We try to be epic like the first generation, but everyone ignores us. Fiske is not _even trying_ to attract people and yet countries want him behind bars!" He sighed.

RJ was so stunned by what she was hearing. "I...never thought about it that way." The British snob was so cynical merely because he feared reaching out to others and failing? This just sounded awkward from the perspective of a sheltered girl succeeding at making friends without even trying.

The waitress finally brought over the plates of French toast and mushroom quiche. Camillo snuck a one dollar bill at the waitress' apron pocket and gave the woman a wink. The latter giggled and blushed as she made her way back to the kitchen.

"Is that bribing?" RJ wondered.

"It's tipping, _chérubin_. Just to get the advantages." Camillo shrugged as he cut through his quiche. "Concerning your bet, I'm still surprised that Fiske dared to pull it off. His reputation with young ladies is rather one-sided."

"One-sided?" RJ took a bite of her French toast and marveled at the taste of delicious pastry covered in sugar.

"What I did with the waitress? Physically attractive villains have a way to rely on their physical charms and smooth words to get to others. I've been in the Minalshari for years and whenever I see Fiske passing by with Gilliard, all the young ladies swoon at the sight of him. His human appearance as a tall, dark, handsome British man in his early twenties is enough to make them ignore his...particular appendages." He paused. "Or maybe they just go for _l'argent_."

RJ scowled sourly. "Well I ain't interested in him, even if he's good-looking and rich." Her cheeks burned while her conscience chided her for saying that the snob was good-looking.

Camillo chuckled in amusement. "Sadly, _chérubin,_ I fear that by showing him you're not interested him, _you_ caused him to be interested in you. Cynical Englishmen don't go around calling American girls 'vixens' for nothing, you know?"

RJ impaled her food with her fork and clasped her hands together. "So you're saying I'm screwed for the bet?"

"Honestly, the odds are mixed. If he wants you as an apprentice, he could have just gone to HenchCo and fill up papers with Jack Hench, therefore sealing the deal."

"Please tell me that's not the way becoming an apprentice at Y.E.A.R.N works." RJ begged.

Camillo rubbed his chin. "Well I was never a Y.E.A.R.N pupil, _mais_ I've lived long enough to meet Y.E.A.R.N alumni and hear their experiences. Once you start doing heists, you must have performed at least twenty successful heists by your sixth month of training. Jack Hench usually waits until his new pupils are formed after six months before sending out the ads to reach out professional villains who could use apprentices. Interviews are done, and if the _étudiants_ are lucky, they get hired by the villains to train under their tutelage. If they are successful enough, the apprentices move on to become the villains' sidekicks, and if they are willing, they can finally move on to the level of _méchant professionel._ " He straightened himself on his chair. "Then again, it does happen when pupils get their apprenticeship faster than others either because they are talented enough to work harder than others, have connections, or the professional just agreed to pay Jack Hench a reasonable sum to get the pupil."

RJ grimaced. "So you're telling me that Jack Hench could _sell me_ off to Martin Fiske if he could?"

"If Fiske was the only one willing to hire you, Hench would play the game of seeing how far the client would go to actually get the pupil: thousands of signed paperwork, contracts, raised prices, etc. He's a businessman after all, and his company is tight these days."

" _Alien invasion,_ I know." RJ rolled her eyes.

"Then you know how hard the evil economy is getting." Camillo nodded. "Without the world's attention on their schemes, professionals stop going to extreme lengths to go after doomsday device articles that cost a fortune. Hired goons stop seeing the reason to no longer serve professionals as reduced housekeeping and therefore quit, losing money while saving their former employees a fortune. Fewer join Y.E.A.R.N in the hopes of being hired and the pupils find it harder to earn careers, they are reduced to common part-time jobs."

RJ felt herself slipping in her chair. She felt embarrassed that she kept forgetting the domino effect the evil economy was having these days. " _Mais,_ Fiske has given you the advantage of time in your little game," Camillo pointed out. "Just going to Jack Hench to sell you off before your first heist would have been less than amusing, don't you think?"

"I guess, but how can I manage to keep my...thing under control if I have only two weeks?" RJ asked. "And without guidance on how to do it? I've never put a foot outside of my apartment for fourteen years and just being in the Y.E.A.R.N common bathrooms freak me out!"

"How you control your power is your problem, but I can give you this small piece of advice." He leaned so that she could see how his eyes were giving away his seriousness and mischievous nature at the same time. "Time is your advantage and your opposing party is a villain who uses his brains and cunning more often than he uses his brawns and magic. The best you can do is at least _stall_ Fiske by using _your_ cunning against _his_."

RJ straightened herself in her seat and processed Camillo's words in her head. _Use your cunning against his_ translated into _outsmart him_. If she could trick an old cat lady into giving her a ride out of town and make everyone in the Minalshari believe that she was RJ the awesome Y.E.A.R.N rookie rather than Ronilda the parentless idiot who lived in a seventy-foot tall building with no outdoor contact, then she should have at least 10% of chances of outsmarting a cunning villain with two decades of evil experience. _So I do I stall a professional in order to buy myself time_? She wondered. _Maybe a wild goose chase..._

A light bulb dinged in her head.

"Say, Camillo," she said while tapping her fingers together, "you wouldn't happen to have the address of the snob's number one stalker?"


	11. Cuddle Buddies to Celebrate

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 11: Cuddle Buddies to Celebrate

RJ had taken her new all-terrain vehicle (courtesy of Edina) and drove her way to the address Camillo had given her. It felt good to be out in the open air, outside of the Minalshari dome, and drive on the highway with the wind blowing on her face. With her sweet ride being solar powered, she didn't even have to stop by the gas station to fill up her tank, though she did take some guilty stops to admire the scenery of the mountain ranges and flourishing forests.

After a long drive, she unfortunately found herself driving in the outskirts of Lowerton. The moment she spotted a house or people walking, she put her black goggles. Last thing she'd want was to stumble into her Grandma and get grounded permanently. Luckily for her, the address Camillo had given her was just at the end of Butch Street. She parked her vehicle right by the mailbox and removed her goggles to have a better view at the house.

It was by far, the brightest pink house she had ever seen. Aside from the creamy white wooden pillars and window frames, the dark chocolate roof tiles and patio, and the red cherry mahogany door, the entire house had pink walls, a pink chimney, pink window curtains, and even a pink mat by the front door. The front lawn was bright green, the bushes well trimmed, flowers were blooming, and birds twittered by the bird fountain. If RJ didn't know that this was, in Camillo's words, 'the house hosting the lamest of all girly villains', she'd have mistaken it for a human sized dollhouse that like the one she never got for Christmas when she was five.

RJ got off her vehicle and took the package she had brought with her. She made her way to the front door and wondered who were those pink villains that the male Fiskes seemed to fear so much. _They must have been terrible enough to have Martin Fiske hide in a dressing cabinet_ , RJ recalled the first time she met Martin, back when he had tried to hide in the dressing room to avoid his stalker. Her foot landed on the pink WELCOME mat. "Well, there goes nothing," she sighed. Her finger pressed the door bell, unleashing the cheesiest sweet ringing that only fairy tales would possess. The door opened. A woman close to her late fifties or early sixties stood before her. Her messy black bob haircut had streaks of gray, her winter jersey shirt and dark pink pants looked tight on her skin, and her neck held an otterfly necklace. Her greasy, freckled, chubby face had a pouty nose holding up a pair of glasses, and when she smiled, a missing front tooth was evident.

"Well hello there, my little pumpkin!" She said with such a sugary tone as she clasped her hands together. "What brings you to our lovely home?"

RJ was temporarily frozen. The woman's sweetness creeped her out. She looked like one of those young grandmas that overly embarrass teenagers to the point of treating them like ten-years-olds.

"Hi!" RJ spoke as perky and joyful as she could. "I'm RJ and I'm new in the community. I thought I'd say hi to my friendly new peeps!" She held up the package. "I even brought a heart-warming gift!"

"Oh, aren't you the sweetest thing ever!" The old woman gave RJ a pinch on the cheek, making the latter grit her teeth to avoid screaming. The pink hag almost pulled of her skin until she let go and welcomed her inside the even-pinker living room. _OK, now_ _ **I'm**_ _terrified,_ RJ thought.

"Do sit down." The old woman guided RJ to the pink sofa. "By the way, my name is Mrs. Amy Hall, but you can call me Auntie Amy." She turned to the staircase, which was covered in a blue otterfly patterned carpet. "Amelia! We have a visitor!" She shouted. A serious of footsteps stomped their way down like an elephant stampede. The moment Amelia paused at the center of the staircase, RJ wanted to throw up. The kid was even perkier and pinker than Auntie Amy. A fourteen-year-old girl, making her hardly a couple years younger than RJ, bearing a youthful version of her mother's greasy, freckled white skin, gapped teeth, and sharp black hair that reached her shoulders. She wore a crazy pinkish shawl and magenta dress with designs of the otterfly Cuddle Buddy, pink-and-sickly turquoise boots with orange bows on them, a DNA-shaped barrette holding back her hair, and glasses.

"Yay! A new friend!" Amelia clapped her hands and raced to hug RJ in a suffocating manner similar to Auntie Amy's. RJ almost felt her bones crack. _THAT's the snob's stalker?_ This had to be a nightmare. What the Hell did she get herself into?

"Say, RJ, how old are you?" Auntie Amy asked, popping RJ from her painful mental bubble.

"I'm turning sixteen next month..." RJ breathed deeply and stretched the moment Amelia let you go. "Man, what a hug!"

Amelia giggled. "How sweet! You two are almost the same age!" Auntie Amy said. RJ chuckled nervously and put the package on the coffee table. As if on cue, the Halls ripped up the package open like a bunch of little girls opening Christmas presents. RJ couldn't believe it, but she actually missed the crazy cat-lady.

"O...M...G!" Amelia shrieked while she and her mother freaked out at the sight of Chibi-eyed otterfly collectible figures that RJ had purchased. "The entire collection of the Around-The-World Otterfly figurines! There's even the Inuit Otterfly and the Parisian Mime Otterfly!"

"You are the sweetest, pumpkin!" Auntie Amy gave RJ another unbearable cheek pinch. "I still have to finish baking my ginger snaps cookies. Why don't you girls go play upstairs? Amelia, since RJ was such a sweetie, why don't you give her one of the old Cuddle Buddies that you don't use?"

"But mommy! There all collector's special!" Amelia whined.

"I can make it your while," RJ said before whispering in her ear, "you know, _monkey-_ while."

Amelia squealed in excitement. "SUREMOMWELLBEUPSTAIRS!" Amelia dragged RJ by the arm and up the stairs. The latter didn't have much time to inspect the hallway, Amelia instantly tossed her inside the bedroom and locked the door behind her. "How'd you know about the love of my life?" She asked suspiciously.

"You make it obvious." RJ straightened herself. "Look, I know much you love Martin Fiske... and I want to help you."

Amelia blinked. "You do?"

"Yes!" RJ began to slowly pace. "I mean, it's clear that you two have it going, but he's doing it wrong! He's playing hard to get, and now he's trying to make you jealous by flirting with other girls!"

"WHAT?" Amelia exclaimed.

"I know, and it burns me because I hate to see a fellow girl friend getting scorned by a Casanova!" To add drama, RJ acted like she was stabbing herself on the chest. "That's why I want to help you! You need to go after him and say 'Now see there, Fiske! You are _my man!_ You should be with _me_ and not some frolicking mall girl! You are part of Team Amelia!"

"You're right!" Amelia said in admiration. "Wow, you're one heck of a motivation speaker!"

"Thanks." RJ nodded. "So here's the deal." She searched through her pocket and pulled out a gray microchip the size of a leech. "This tracking chip can allow you to track down Fiske from any computer as long as it has direct physical contact with his DNA."

"You built this yourself?" Amelia asked in awe as she took the chip. RJ nodded. Surprisingly enough, during her first few days at Y.E.A.R.N, she found out that the years of fixing by herself her apartment's broken circuits actually helped her with the technological lessons HenchCo and Buffy gave her. Humbly speaking, she knew that HenchCo's manufactured chip were more promising than the well-functioning ones she made, but because the microchip reserve was for clients only and that stealing would cost her to be kicked out, she went with following a complicated blueprint. "Last I heard, he was heading for Maori."

Amelia's eyes beamed at the chip. "You are such an angel," she said. "You know what? Mommy's right! You offered me so much, I think I can spare you at least one of my collections!"

"Oh, you don't have to!" RJ waved her hands while Amelia headed to this pink curtain hiding half of her room. "I offer so much and want little!"

"C'mon!" The pink girl insisted. "There's got to be at least _one_ you like! I got Otterfly..."

"Obviously." RJ stared at a giant human-sized otterfly plush resting on the pink princess bed.

"Bunnacoon?"

"Eh. Cute, but I don't like the color." RJ shook her head while staring at the wardrobe with painted bunnacoons dancing on a green field full of smiling flowers.

"Pandaroo?"

RJ froze. She slowly turned clockwise and faced Amelia before gushing in excitement. "You...have...PANDAROO?"

"Your favorite, huh?" Amelia smirked before pulling the curtain aside. "THEN PREPARE TO BE JEALOUS!"

RJ instantly squealed in delight, not because she saw dozens of shelves full of Cuddle Buddy collections based in the hybrid species' alphabetical order, but because Amelia had at least two shelves full of nothing but collections of the panda and kangaroo hybrid. She found herself walking like a zombie toward it. "The plush toys, the tea set, the DVD specials, the accessories..." She froze when she saw one of the Pandaroo plush toys dressed as a British guard from the Cuddle-Buddies-Go-To-London edition. Her mind went back to her first years at the apartment. Because she was so unhappy and crying about why her parents didn't even show up for her fourth birthday, her grandma had consoled her by giving her the London Edition Pandaroo. Ever since then, when she wasn't playing with her other toys, she'd cuddle with the Pandaroo for comfort and still slept with the little guy when she was a teenager. When she yelled at her grandmother for putting it in the wash, the old woman muttering something 'like mother, like daughter'.

"I can't believe I left it back there," RJ sighed.

"Say what?" Amelia asked, popping RJ back to reality.

"Sorry. I was just... contemplating on how I had an exact toy like this and... I forgot to bring it with me when I joined the community."

"Aw." Amelia gave a genuine pout. "You can take it, if you want."

"Are you sure you won't miss it?" RJ asked.

"Nah, I got at least twenty in the basement. I can spare one." RJ's eyes beamed and she found herself hugging the plush in her arms.

"GIRLS!" Auntie Amy shouted from downstairs. "GINGER SNAPS ARE READY!"

"You like ginger snaps?" Amelia asked rather calmly.

"Eh, not really." RJ shook her hand in a 'so-so' manner. "I'm more of a chocolate pistachio kind of person."

"OK, don't tell her any of this, but I hate her ginger snaps!" Amelia shuddered. "Just bat your eyes and look pretty if they revolt you. And don't tell her that you gave me the microchip! Otherwise she'll think that I went to another one of HenchCo's conventions without her permission!"

"What's wrong with the conventions?" RJ asked as they got out of her bedroom.

"Let's just say they aren't as... flared up as they used to be."

 _Across the Pacific Ocean_

Another sulfur gas steamed from in between the boulders that formed the walls of the underground mines underneath the Tama Lakes. As Martin cautiously walked down the mine, a pickax in and a gas mask covering his face, he began to understand why the mine was abandoned. With all the poisonous gas steaming underneath the lakes, whoever used to work here as miners had to be evacuated and the mine shut down from the public, leaving it abandoned and neglected. Negatively speaking, that meant that Martin had to breathe his own Early Grey scented breath with his mask covering his face, but positively speaking, he had zero chances of getting caught trying to find a poumanu stone.

He walked further down the mine, feeling the walls around him getting narrower and smaller. Finally, by the time he had to start crawling, he found the walls glowing with hidden green lights. He used his pickax to give small hits on one of the glowing green scraps neat. Eventually he had to hit harder, but the moment he gave the first hard blow on it, rock crumbles fell from the ceiling. Too many hard blows and the mine would crush upon him. _Curses,_ he muttered.

He gave smaller hits. No effect. Sighing, he saw he had no choice. Like an insane man vandalizing a car window with a pry bar, Martin whacked on the wall. The ceiling shook harder as he continued until finally, a small poumanu stone the size of his fist appeared. He hit one last time. The stone fell off the wall and into the expecting hand.

Martin didn't wait another second and made a run for it. The mine collapsed behind him, threatening the young man to be crushed by the boulders. With luck on his side, Martin jumped out of the mine's entrance and rolled down the hill while the mine officially exploded into ruins.

"That was too close!" Martin sighed in relief as he managed to sit up on the bare ground. He looked at the poumanu stone in his hand and chuckled. "A few more things to do and then the vixen will be mine." He kept smirking to himself as he pulled a golden zodiac medallion from underneath his shirt, opened its locket, and placed the stone within it, thus keeping it in a safe place resting by his chest.

"Now, I've got to... GAAAH!" Something threw itself at him, pinning him to the earth. He was lucky to have not removed his gas mask yet, otherwise the Sugar Cuddle of Freakness would have made things worse.

"CUDDLE MONKEY!" Amelia Hall screamed at him, her hands hugging his neck so tightly while rubbing on his mask-covered face, was she trying to kill him? "I knew I'd find you!"

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Martin tried to push her away from him.

"Not anymore, my love! You are _my man_ and part of Team Amelia!" Amelia managed to shout at him like a stern schoolteacher while at the same time hugging him in her usual self. _When the Hell did she become so assertive?_ Martin screamed mentally. "Now how about we remove that mask? You must be suffocating in it, I'll have to use CPR on you!"

That was the last straw for Martin. His etiquette might tell him to never assault women, but he needed to defend himself from the madwoman. Using one of his monkey feet, he pulled her away by the ankle and used his other foot to kick her in the stomach, sending her flying a good meter away from him. He took the opportunity to run away to the area where he hid his jet and took off .

The moment he was in the air, Martin sighed in relief until he screamed the moment his radar told him that Amelia was trailing him on a speedboat. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT FREAK?"

Little did he know, he had a microchip resting on the back of his neck.

 _Across the Atlantic Ocean, YET AGAIN_

Sunday night finally came. RJ was meditating in her room, the lights turned off and her coffee table full of lit candles she had purchased. She was sitting on the floor in a Lotus position, facing her bed and her new Pandaroo plush as if she were having a meditation face-off.

"I'm serene..." RJ took slow deep breaths. "Tomorrow's the big day. I'll steal the Hope Diamond and succeed on my first heist. I am not stressed." As she breathed, the candles' flames moved as if to synchronize with her heartbeats. "I am in control. I managed to get Amelia to goose chase the snob. I won't lose his bet."

 _Do you really want to lose_? Great. The power was talking to her again. "Go next door," RJ said undeterred. "You're not worth my time."

 _C'mon!_ It whined. _You don't want to spend the rest of your life slaving off at HenchCo! Just forfeit and you can become powerful at Fiske's side!_

"There's no crime in dream dating." A smirk appeared on RJ's face as she kept meditating. She was making fun of the power, which seemed to be taking quite the offense. "Besides, why are you so obsessed with shipping me with Fiske? We have nothing in common."

 _You have much in common!_ The power was getting angry. _The power, the parental neglect, the potential...and a whole lot of the arrogance! Without each other, he isolates himself further and you lose control. Join him and you can get everything while he has the perfect consort._

"You're exhausting yourself for nothing." RJ calmly shook her head. "Go sleep. We'll talk about it after I win my bet." The power grumbled something and did as RJ asked. Feeling relieved, RJ got up and went to turn the lights back on right when a knocking came from the door.

"COMING!" She quickly hopped and ran to the door.

"SURPRISE!" Melgo, Buffy, Edina, and Gilliard shouted, nearly giving her a heart attack. "HAPPY BEFORE-FIRST-HEIST PARTY!"

"Aw, you guys didn't have to do that!" RJ said.

"Too late." Gilliard shook his head. "We already got the pizza and the soda."

RJ just shrugged and let them in. It was a good thing that she had kept her room clean earlier because a good hour later, the place was quite a mess. The teens were either devouring the pizza or laughing their heads off while gulping down soda or playing another round of MICHIE GHAN MYSTIC HUNTER. God knew how long they had fun until Melgo knocked on the coffee table like a judge in a courtroom, getting everyone's attention.

"Everyone!" She announced. "I thank you all for coming to this special occasion. RJ, our beloved new friend, is going on her very first heist tomorrow and we're all proud of her for being so daring and dangerously smart enough to decide on coming up with the greatest scheme ever! Stealing the Hope Diamond from the Smithsonian!" RJ blushed a bit while the others awed.

"Dude, you're gonna steal that diamond and pull the greatest, rocking crime ever! Seriously!" Edina punched RJ on the shoulder.

"With all the billions and carats in that thing, you'd _have_ to be noticed!" Gilliard agreed.

"Thanks, you guys," RJ said. "Honestly, I wonder what I'm going to do with all that money!"

"Easy!" Melgo grabbed the last can of soda and gulped all of it. "Spend one third of it on whatever you want and save the remaining two thirds until you're rich enough to buy your own mansion."

"Ooh, maybe you could buy one of the islands neighboring Killigan's Island!" Buffy suggested. "We'll be neighbors!"

"You want to turn her into an old maiden playing golf and eating haggis until she reaches Señor Senior's age? Seriously?" Edina rolled her eyes and turned to RJ. "What if you used the cash to turn the oceans into the world's first watery race track? Seriously!"

"Are cars the _only_ thing in your mind?" Buffy knocked on Edina's head. Ironically enough, a hollow sound echoed from it.

RJ laughed at the sight of her friends arguing over something as petty as money. "Easy guys, easy! Personally speaking, if I could spend the one third of my upcoming jackpot, I'd use it to celebrate my victory with my friends in one place out there." She grabbed her laptop and quickly started tapping. "Shout out a personal favorite activity _that doesn't_ include something I already know!"

"A pool with a jacuzzi!" Gilliard shouted.

"Ooh, I want a casino with a bunch of first-person shooter video games!" Buffy added. The others looked blankly at her. "What? I like sports other than golf and mini golf!"

"I got dibs on X-Drivers on Ice!" Edina did an air-guitar. "Seriously!"

"X-Drivers on Ice?" RJ looked at Melgo.

"Edina's favorite ice show involving a bunch of super-powered drivers protecting the world of monster trucks from driving law capitalism." The latter rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'd like a spa and a suite."

RJ tapped and clicked. Her computer gave out a ding. "And we are celebrating my triumph party at the Bowie Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas! I'm finally gonna see Nevada!"

"Viva Las Vegas, hey!" Gilliard, Buffy and Edina started to conga together while singing. "Viva La RJ, hey! Viva La RJ, hey!" They continued to sing and laugh on with their party until Gilliard's mother, Secretary Magali, came in telling the Y.E.A.R.N students to go to bed and for Gilliard to go back home.

 _Meanwhile, in Washington DC_

The alarms rang all over the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. While one guard was busy turning off the alarm, a couple others went to the Gemstone exhibit, where the alarm had been rigged. Yet after a good ten minutes of inspecting the place, they saw that everything was in place.

"No broken glass case, no clue, and none of the gemstones were stolen," one of the guards said. "You think the alarm's broken?"

"No, it's properly functioning." The other guard shook his head. He briefly walked over to the Hope Diamond, still protected by its glass case and shining as it spun. "Maybe it was just another one of those drills. The manager ain't stupid, you know? Unlike all those politicians and militaries worrying over alien invasions, he's cautious about criminals trying to steal them diamonds."

"Yeah, like what happened to that kid who became a millionaire? Funny story..." As the guards ranted off, they were unaware that they were being observed by a trio of upgraded and improved robots from the roof of the next building. Once they lost interest, they turned and kneeled before a shadowy figure that had come to rendezvous with him.

" _Bebes have performed their task, master,_ " the leading Bebe robot handed something in a plastic pouch to the figure. " _Bebes have succeeded in replacing genuine Hope Diamond necklace with synthetic necklace wielding microchip, as master demanded._ "

" _Your master is pleased_ ," he sneered as he took the pouch. " _And he no longer needs you._ " He grabbed the other two Bebes' heads and smashed them right into the middle one's, causing their bodies to malfunction and eventually lose power. " _Frankly, I never needed you as much as I need Ronilda Stoppable to conquer this world._ " He wielded some sort of weapon at the robot debris and burned them on the spot before disappearing up in the dark sky.


	12. Weak of the Unstable

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 12: Week of The Unstable

Martin banged on the door in desperation. "ESPADRILLE! LET ME IN, I BEG YOU!" He didn't know how much time he had. He just had to hope that he managed to get Amelia lost about ten streets away from here. Luckily for him, the doors opened and the moment he ran in, the titanium doors covered the entire normal door and windows, preventing anyone from breaking in.

Good thing he still had good ties with the Fashionistas. Even after two decades, they still managed to keep the fashion underground going in business and were no close to retiring, even if Chino, the oldest of the Fashionistas, reached the age where he could retire.

"Look who it is!" Espadrille was the first to jump off her chair when the elevator opened and Martin stepped inside the criminals' main parlor.

"Greetings..." He gasped.

"My, you look exhausted! What happened out there?" Chino said as he welcomed the young man and had him sit on an orange leather armchair.

"I'm... not sure..." Martin gasped. A garcon came and brought over a cup of hot Earl Grey. "I lost track of time. DNAmy's daughter has been chasing me all the way from Maori... I don't know how she's been doing it..."

"Maybe this?" Hoodie (yes, even at her age she still covered her face with a hoodie) pinched something from behind Martin's neck. He yelped at the sudden electric shock he got. "A tracking device. Designed to specifically track your DNA signature."

"That explains how she managed to chase me from New Zealand all the way to Italy!" Martin drank his tea as slowly as he could. "But chipping me? That's low!"

"Hm." Hoodie took a better look at the chip and even picked on the texture with her fingers. She even cracked it open to see the technological system within it. "Judging by the capacity of the metal and the particular design of the electricity current, I can tell the chip was made in HenchCo... but judging by the low quality of the wires and the fact that the metal's rusted... My conclusion is that an amateur from HenchCo built this chip and sold it to Amelia Hall."

"An amateur... from HenchCo?" Martin frowned in conclusion until he started putting the pieces together. _Tell me she didn't_! "Chino, what day of the month is it?" He demanded.

"April 24th, why?"

" **SHE CHEATED!** " Martin jumped off his chair and angrily threw the teacup on the glass window, smashing the fancy porcelain material. "That American vixen goaded Amelia into chasing me across the Eastern Hemisphere to buy her time! She cheated at my own bet!"

"Dude, that ain't right!" Hoodie shook her finger. "If you set a bet, the better gets to cheat while the bettee doesn't! Not the other way around!"

Martin gritted in his teeth. A week! He had been chased around by Amelia Hall for a week and RJ had purposely delayed him! With the pink pest following him around, he didn't have time to do things like prepare the potion or order the necessary supplies he'd need once RJ became his apprentice. For someone who claimed to have little experience with the real world, she was sure good at using her wits!

"RJ, what the hell did you do during the past week?"

 _Last Monday_

The epic day came. RJ had to do whatever it takes to hold her excitement in check as she succeeded in fooling the security scanners and the guard checking her purse. This was the first time she ever stepped in a museum, especially the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Any newcomer would be excited about coming inside the lobby and meet the giant elephant statue welcoming the crowds.

But even better, she was going to pull her first heist ever by robbing the Hope Diamond.

First step: she came in dressed up as a French tourist. Thanks to the power of French stereotypical fashion she found at a Minalshari thrift shop and fake ID cards she learned to forge at Y.E.A.R.N, she was disguised as the non-existent French amateur illustrator Rochelle Dubois. That worked out well.

Second step: scattering the time bombs disguised as the silver disks on her belt. As fast (but as observant-looking) as possible, she want all over the museum to cautiously pluck off the disks from her belt and hide them around. The first she hid it in behind a toilet in the women's bathroom. 25:00. The second one she placed under the bench of that screening about mammal evolution. 15.00. The third she placed it on the totem by the stairwell. 10:00. The fourth was hidden behind a pile of books in the third floor gift shop. 5:00. The last one was placed by the railing near the gemstone exhibit. 3:00.

RJ went inside the exhibit, where she found an expected crowd of tourists and visitors huddling to admire the Hope Diamond, her desired target. 2:00. She faded in the crowd in order to get a better look. 1:00. Her mouth smirked while her eyes pretended to be amazed.

0:30.

Explosions rang like echoing bells of destruction all over the museum. The fire alarm rang and the crowds began screaming. Smoke came from the fifth bomb, blinding the people in the gemstone exhibit. Prepared, RJ grabbed a leather glove and put on while the smoke invaded like a tsunami. Using her power to see through the clouds, RJ gave a massive punch on the glass case. Shards exploded, the alarm screamed, and RJ snickered quietly as she grabbed the necklace and put it on her neck. Just as the main stone touched her skin and her turtleneck blouse hid the prize, somebody grabbed her arm.

"Ma'am, please follow us as calmly as possible!" A guard said, ushering her as protectively as his duty demanded. "We're evacuating everyone until the fire department comes over!"

"Bless you!" RJ said as cowardly as she could. The guard led her and the other visitors down the nearest safest stairs (one of them was burning because of her bomb). The museum was now burning and in debris. Once she was 'safely' escorted out, she ran out like a panicked woman and made her way to the area above 9th Street where she parked her all-terrain vehicle. RJ didn't wait a second and hit the gas. Her theft was a success. Now all she had to do was drive all the way across the Potomac River to the Ronald Reagan Airport.

It was easy until she failed to notice that her new necklace slipped off from underneath her shirt and one of the evacuated visitors spotted the necklace hanging on RJ's neck. "Hey! That girl stole the Hope Diamond!"

Crud. Now the police caught up and started chasing her as she made the left turn on 14th Street. RJ hit the brakes and drove faster. At this rate, she could get arrested for violating the speed limit as well as stealing a diamond.

"Stop in the name of the law!" One of the police cars shouted. Honestly, RJ failed to comprehend why authorities kept saying this stuff even though the criminals obviously say no.

 _Great_ , she grumbled mentally as she reached the bridge. _How am I gonna elude..._

RJ suddenly spaced out. When she was done with such a mental cut, she blinked and found herself approaching the airport. This didn't make sense. Just before she blanked out, she was barely at the bridge. How the hell did she suddenly arrive in Virginia? She stopped her vehicle by this group of people who stopped in the middle of the road to take pictures by the river.

"Hey, what's going on?" She asked a nearby man.

"The weirdest thing happened. The bridge just exploded." He nodded his head at the bridge, specifically the one RJ was supposed to have reached. It was torn in half and coughing black smoke in the blue sky. Cars were drowning and people were heard shooting while a rescue squad arrived on a boat to save any survivors.

"W...What caused this?" RJ asked the man.

"I have no idea. I just picked up my wife from the airport and then the explosion came," he said. "Good thing I don't live in the DC area. Otherwise we'd have to find another way to go back home."

Remembering that she was now a wanted criminal, RJ cautiously tucked the Hope Diamond back in her shirt. "Well I hope your wife's OK," she said genuinely. "It must be a shock for her..."

"I wish." The man rolled his eyes. "She's used to be a journalist for THE EXAMINER back in Colorado but then she got a promotion. In fact, she's at the head of the crowd, trying to get her first scoop."

RJ didn't want to wait any longer. After politely giving her farewells to the man, she drove back to her destination. A HenchCo jet was parked by the other planes and loaded her vehicle while she got inside. Much to her surprise, she got welcomed with exploding confetti and a sign shouting in bright red letters ' **YOU DID IT!** '

"An instant success on your first heist!" Jack Hench said. He was sitting on a comfy armchair, greeting her with a glass full of champagne. "You, RJ, are by far the best pupil my company has trained in the past two decades and you've only started a week ago!"

"Gosh, I...I feel embarrassed," RJ said. She sat down on the nearest armchair and the jet instantly took flight for the West Coast. Because of the hyper speed in the engines, she didn't have time to watch the speeding environment below them. Through most of the flight, she listened to Jack Hench rambling on about how her success could promise greater heists in the future and a great chance in great employers. The moment they arrived back at HenchCo, Jack Hench and Secretary Magali introduced RJ to a banker, who managed to interpret the amount of cash in the diamond into a rich bank account full of money for her. RJ now found herself with a fortune, and as she promised to her friends, the first thing she did was use a small portion of her new savings to get them a trip to Las Vegas.

 _Last Monday night, at the Bowie Hotel and Casino_

So it turned out that RJ was responsible for the explosion that occurred in DC.

And Melgo was unhappy about it when she showed RJ the footage on the news before joining the others downstairs in the casino.

"' _17 police officers and about 30 civilians were confirmed to have either died or drowned in their vehicles during the incident in Washington DC while only thirteen survived with potentially major injuries,'_ " the reporter said while the screen showed the cars drowning with people trapped in them, pedestrians falling from the bridge as it collapsed, and the survivors being taken away on ambulance, their skins covered with burns. The images then showed it clearly. RJ, despite not remembering it herself, was feeling punched in the stomach. It did not help that Melgo was staring at her crossly while her hand held the remote and increased the volume when the news managed to show footage of RJ being chased on the bridge by the cops. Her head was turning to look at the cops and by the time she focused her attention back in front, the police cars did a synchronized performance of blue explosions, making a bigger, darker one on the bridge. "' _Police are uncertain if the bombing in Washington DC are connected to the cruelly impressive theft of the Hope Diamond from the Smithsonian earlier, but one thing is certain. The death of so many people can only be the work of..._ '"

Melgo turned off the TV and stared at RJ, making the latter wish to sink even further on the bed she was sitting on. "So the good news is, you succeeded your first heist, but the bad news is that now you got the media labeling you as a terrorist!" Her hand burned with green energy, crushing the remote it was holding.

"Melgo, I swear..." RJ got cut off.

"Forty... seven... people, RJ! FORTY-SEVEN!" Melgo paced around in frustration. "If it were a guard in a highly secured military base or an arch-foe, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but _common people_?"

"I don't know what happened!" RJ protested. "I was just about to reach the bridge when I suddenly spaced out! Next thing I knew, I was in Virginia while..."

"You SPACED OUT?" Melgo shouted. "Are you telling me that you let your power take the reins? I thought you were practicing!"

RJ wanted to shout back and give out an excuse, but she remembered the bet she made. She was lucky that she had Amelia distract Martin Fiske, because now she could understand what he meant by 'controlling herself' a whole lot better than Melgo put in. When Melgo told her about Mystical Monkey Power, she put it as something RJ should hide or else she'd be killed by the competition, but with the snob, it was more than that. It meant that if she couldn't control herself, her power would damage others the same way she damaged trees and now a bridge full of people. If Martin Fiske had been watching from a TV back in England, RJ could guess that he'd be taking her for a one-way ticket to a life as his apprentice.

She sighed and took a long, but peaceful, deep breath. "It was not intention to create this havoc," she said quietly. "I promise to be more aware and focused."

Melgo nodded. She then proceeded to give RJ a small, but warm hug. "RJ, I worry about you. The fact that you unconsciously killed people..."

"Am I becoming a monster?" She asked.

"Only if you keep letting your power boss around." Melgo patted her on the shoulder. "Let's leave it on hold for now. The others are waiting downstairs, so let's just pretend nothing happened."

RJ nodded, her mind feeling more at ease. "Just give me a minute. I still need to change."

Melgo nodded and gave her a small smile. As her phone rang, causing her to get into a heated chat about tardiness and racecars with her cousin, RJ went to grab a few clean clothes and brought them with her to the bathroom. A quick hot shower later, she watched her reflection as she placed a black turtleneck shirt on top of the Hope Diamond, still resting on her heck. What? She wasn't going to leave it lying around while she went to the casino!"

"My mind is at ease..." RJ smiled to herself as she put her pants on and buckled the belt. "And hey, despite the deaths I caused, I still succeeded on my first heist and now I get to party in a casino for the first time."

We know what she doesn't, but for now let's act that we don't know the same way RJ is unaware that the necklace she was wearing was fake and that the microchip hiding in the blue diamond was now copying her genetic code and transferring information.

 _Back to the present Monday in Milan_

It was nighttime in Milan. Chino came in with a tray full of coffee, tea, and in-fashion cucumber sandwiches in the conference room right when Martin hung up the phone. "So?" he asked.

"Gilliard confirmed my doubts," Martin said grimly. "She went haywire."

"How did he confirm it?" Chino handed him the cup full of Earl Grey while he sat down on a chair facing Martin. The city lights of Milan were shining in the dark night seen from the window.

"Long story short, she took most of her 'friends' from the Minalshari to a one-night trip to the Bowie Hotel and Casino..."

Chino made a gagging gesture. "That Johnny Bowie themed pigsty in Vegas? I always suspected their 'cheap caviar'."

"Sure." Martin rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Gilliard said that after only three cups of mock beer and one pool game, RJ did a classic bathroom excuse and that was the last they've seen of her... until the next crimes occurred. Do you have those pictures you told me about?"

"I do." Chino grabbed a pack of small square papers that he tossed on the mahogany surface. Even with the lights off, Martin could very well see the images thanks to the lights coming from outside the window. "Until Wednesday, her next crimes just included stealing valuable diamonds from more museums and stores throughout the country. Then came the part where she aggressed a royal ambassador and killed the old lady while making off with the royal diadem. Now she's been stealing tungsten from private Asian factories in the US and caused a whole town in Texas to be burned to the ground after stealing from the same scientists who once made the Centurion project."

"She burned a town?" Martin was having a hard time picturing RJ burning a town willingly... until her entire figure turned into a torch and her ginger blonde hair burning like flames. He shook his head.

"Police first saw her as a mere thief who managed to pull the greatest scandal in the US," Chino said as he sorted through the pictures in chronological order, "but the embassy, factories, and town incidents resulted with a total of _115_ people dead, with _86_ of them being civilians. Last I heard, the reporters are calling her 'the most dangerous villain in the US'. They actually dubbed you more 'decent' than her."  
"But that's not RJ," Martin shook his head. "I know her. She's just a newbie in the evil business and she spent her entire life sheltered and without connections. There's no possible way she'd turn into... Chino, how would you put it?"

"A sadistic murderer?"

"I'm the most wanted villain in the world and she thinks I'm vile," Martin said. "And I'm quite sure she's heard of the story of Lipsky and the body cast." He shook his head. "How about 'emotionally unstable'?"

"Well you can label her anything you want, but it will only be a matter of time before the US government decides to either kill her or keep her in a laboratory for experimentation." Chino drank his coffee. "And last time I heard from Espadrille, your mother can relate to being a guinea pig."

Martin nodded grimly. He had heard the stories growing up as a child: back when her powers first unleashed and her first attempt to assassinate Stoppable failed, the Simian Witch had been shipped off to what the authorities publicly claimed to be 'going to jail', but in reality she spent six years as the sole prisoner in an asylum where the scientists tried to experiment on her Monkey Witchcraft in the hopes of weaponizing it. Obviously the experiments did not work, but now that Chino made the point, Martin had a newfound dread. RJ could never stand being experimented on and the Mystical Monkey Power is not something that can easily held in a container. Besides, she was already too fragile and vulnerable to her power's obsession in control, courtesy of her being sheltered, so the imagined picture of her then being forced into a lab and...

Forget the bet. He was going to get her _now._

"Chino, I have an idea of how to put an end to this drama before RJ starts endangering herself..."

"Or the entire North American continent," Chino grumbled. Martin scowled at him, making the old man chuckle nervously and press a button under the table. A computer pulled up and showed a display of a Milan fashion show on the screen saver. "What's your idea?"

"For one, I know how I can tranquilize RJ and calm her off her madness, but first we need to pull her out of the United States and into an area where no one will see her... go savage. We'll need to lure her with a bait she won't be able to resist."

"Well she's been stealing diamonds, girls' best friends, metal, and probably blueprints, a geek's best friends for weapons. What could she want next?"

"The Lotus Blade."

Martin's casual response made Chino spit his coffee. "You must be mad! You're going to have her steal that sword from Yamanouchi? Martin, the whole world knows that the school and the Lotus Blade exist since the alien invasion. Besides, weren't you wanted in Japan after you failed to steal it?"

"I never said we'd use the one in _Japan_." Martin waved his hands, creating a red orb with hissing monkeys that form an image. "Here's my idea. We use the same secret online network that HenchCo uses to transfer Y.E.A.R.N publicity to post a false report that the Lotus Blade is being relocated to a museum in Milan, but it will have to arrive at an airport in Florence and driven by discretion van in the highway. In reality, the 'Lotus Blade' will be a phony one in which I will place a MMP energy flux that will make RJ _think_ that she is sensing the sword's presence in the van. We knock her out, we take her back to Milan, we tranquilize and heal her, and BOOM! We save the world and I have my apprentice at my side!"

He gave a big toothy grin while Chino just stared at him. "That is surprisingly well detailed and quite probable to success for a plan you just came up with," he said.

"Yeah..." Martin sighed as if he was wondering what the hell he was doing with his life. "I... spend too much time with Gilliard and his video games."

Chino merely shrugged and started tapping on his computer. "Luckily for you, we Fashionistas post secret underground reports and gossip all the time whenever we want to attract customers. I can easily create that false story about the Lotus Blade for you..." He looked up. Martin was trying his best to not bring up his hands, but Chino could tell that the young man's eyes were still hopelessly tired from his goose chase. "Go get some sleep."

"Are you sure?" Martin asked.

"How long has Hall been chasing you?" Chino asked with a smug. Martin smirked at the response and excused himself from the conference room before collapsing on the nearest couch.

 _Nighttime in the Minalshari_

Melgo was now beyond worried as she walked through the hallway of the Y.E.A.R.N dorms. Thanks to the latest heists, Jack Hench had demanded that RJ stay within the confinements of the HenchCo headquarters. The previously 'best pupil' had turned into the 'terrorist of the year' and even he was afraid of expelling her despite his desire to not have a heartless assassin in his company. He had even summoned Melgo for a heart-to-heart two hours ago about RJ's behavior.

' _You do realize that in the last seven days, RJ has gotten 142 people killed_?' The question still weighed heavily as much as the excuses Melgo had pulled. She couldn't tell the man that RJ was probably suffering from Mystical Monkey Power instability! Knowing Jack Hench, he'd be selling weapons full of the power to other villains or babbling to the Fiskes... whatever option was out of the question.

' _I'll talk to her. She'll listen to my reason._ ' In Melgo's mind, this now seemed to be half true. Back when RJ first started, Melgo had seen the girl do nothing but take her advice, even practicing meditation and small techniques to keep her power in check so that it wasn't so evident during Y.E.A.R.N training. So why was it that now the ever-bright girl RJ was turned into a cold killer taking more lives than Melgo's own mother Shego ever did?

She finally found herself in front of door 459. "RJ?" She knocked on it. "Please let me in. We need to talk."

No answer. She pressed her ear on the door. Scratching and shuffling noises were heard. She knocked on the door even harder. "RJ! C'mon, I know you're in there!" The noises continued. Sighing in defeat, Melgo put her hand on the digital doorknob and overheated its circuits, granting her passage inside. She marched in and halted when she saw the entire apartment full of papers taped on the walls or thrown on the floor. There were so many everywhere, Melgo couldn't even tell where the TV, closet, and bed were. RJ was sitting on the couch as if to imitate a straight robot and scrambling quick notes and doodles on a piece of notepad paper before ripping it off and using a new one.

"RJ, take a break. We need to talk!" Melgo held her hand up in order to grab RJ's arm. The latter merely slapped it away without looking away from her paper waste. "RJ, what on earth is wrong with you?" Melgo grabbed RJ by the shoulders and shook. She succeeded in getting the girl to let go of her notepad and pencil, but she couldn't get her to focus on their conversation. That's when Melgo noticed the expression on RJ's face. It was dull and emotionless, and to crown it all, her hazel eyes looked lifeless. Such a lifeless stare is only seen when people die or get killed: the moment you see that stare that seems to not be focusing on anything while still looking normal, it meant that the world has faded over them.

In other words, RJ could have looked as dead as she appeared emotionless. She merely removed Melgo's hands from her shoulders and went on to pick up her papers and stack them.

"RJ, will you listen to me?" Melgo threw a blast at the stack, burning the papers in green fire. RJ did not react and merely went on to stack the others. "RJ, this isn't you! Why are you so emotionless?"

The ginger blonde still kept stacking. That's when Melgo noticed that even with her Y.E.A.R.N uniform still on, she still had the Hope Diamond necklace hanging around her necklace. It then hit Melgo. What if the necklace was responsible? After all, the artifact did have a history of wielding a curse that gets wearers killed. What if it had cursed RJ?

Only one way to find out.

"Time to remove the bling-bling for the night." Melgo walked to RJ and aimed for the necklace. RJ instantly grabbed her wrist. "RJ, stop being stupid and let me go!" Melgo demanded, now crossing to the stern line. RJ retorted by throwing her into the couch. Melgo flipped back on her feet. "OK, _now_ I know that the Hope Diamond is your problem!"

RJ just stood in an emotionless stance, one hand pointing at the door and the other one giving her a daring 'Come and get it' to Melgo. Normally, one would take it as a challenge, but Melgo knew better. Fighting with her friend right now would create a havoc that would attract unwanted attention. By pointing at the door, RJ was telling Melgo that unless she left, they would fight. And Melgo didn't want to have a fight.

"Fine! You win!" She pretended to act like she was defeated and made her way to the door. When she was certain that RJ went back to automatically recollecting her papers, she silently snatched the paper closest to the door and hid it under her lab shirt.

As she left, she was unaware that RJ's laptop beeped with a notification and the latter's power couldn't resist temptation when she saw the newsletter about the Lotus Blade being transferred to Italy.

 _Meanwhile, somewhere we don't know._

The figure smirked at the green computer screen. " _The microchip is working perfectly,_ " he said.

"With all due respects, sir, what is the purpose of having the prototype brainwashing the girl into retrieving metal and blueprints for you," another figure spoke up. "Not that it wasn't easy for me to retrieve them..."

" _Let your curiosity be served, my faithful servant. The prototype is not only testing its capacity to enslave the wearer at my will, but it is also transferring me Ronilda's genetic information. Everything that I need to know on her Mystical Monkey Power is now in my computer._ " His stare turned to the tungsten and blueprint files that rested on a table. " _The tungsten she stole wields hidden particles that were used to craft the Lotus Blade and conceal with great stability the power. As for the Centurion Project prototype blueprints..._ " The figure snickered. " _It would be miraculous if it didn't suffocate my emotionally unstable target._ "

"A metal that can contain an unsustainable power and science that can cover overly stressed individuals?" The second figure arched her eyebrows. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

" _If this brings you fear, then it shall_ _ **terrorize**_ _those humans!_ " The first figure said. " _Those ants will soon know the true definition of 'Great Blue' once I destroy them with the very thing that saved them decades ago!_ "


	13. Lured Vixen

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 13: Lured Vixen

 _The next day_

The sun had set after the van finally hit the heart of the E35 highway that people took if they were crazy enough to go on a road trip from Florence to Milan.

So far the plan went fine. Early in the morning, Chino and Martin managed to hitch a train to Florence and pick up a van from the Florence extra-base of the Fashionistas. They brought it to the airport and had some henchmen carry a wooden case with the painted word 'FRAGILE' on it, pretending to be arriving at the exact moment when a random plane arrived from Japan. Security bought their story about being film producers for a soon-to-be Italian spy movie. The case was placed in the van, the henchmen went home, and Martin and Chino found themselves driving back to Milan as slowly as they could. Martin easily came up with the flux that would lure RJ in, but since they guessed that RJ would be taking her time to come from the US all the way to Italy, they turned the normal three hour drive into a six hour drive... just in case.

And by the time the sun set at 6:45pm, they were at the heart of the highway, with no other cars in sight.

"Man, they sure do take their time at Y.E.A.R.N!" Chino complained. He was on the wheel and doing his best to avoid driving as fast as he could.

"Have faith, Chino." Martin gave out a small yawn as he drank another cup of caffeinated Earl Grey. "She'll buy the bait anytime..." He briefly looked at the glowing red orb, the flux, as it sat peacefully on top of the empty crate, before then going back to checking the outside of every window. RJ could show up from any possible angle.

"Can I ask you something, kid?" Chino asked him as he took a right turn.

"Sure." Martin still kept his eyes on the passing landscape. What on earth was taking the American vixen so long?

"Why are you so interested in this girl? You're usually not the type to pursue."

Martin turned to look at Chino. "What?"

"C'mon, Martin, we know each other. We know each other ever since Espadrille designed your signature villain uniform before you were born. You're brilliant and intellectual, but you're also unwilling to accept anyone inside your bubble, especially when it comes to women being enticed by you..."

"They're only after my money," Martin said as a dry excuse.

" _Point_ is you're a loner and a bachelor. Why is it that _now_ , you're pursuing this _one_ girl?" The man asked crossly.

Martin felt his stomach turning. "Chino, I'm only interested in hiring her as an apprentice. I'm not seeking some sort of romantic affair." Frankly, that wasn't a lie. At first, he just wanted to use a potion on her because she kept plaguing his mind, but now that he found out she had Mystical Monkey Power... No. Just because he was worried that her power was controlling her and that her lack of control was endangering her did not mean that he was concerned for her because Martin genuinely _liked_ her.

Chino smirked when he saw Martin's twisted face. "You like her."

"I do NOT!"

"Really? She really must be terrible for you to dislike her... I mean, aside from her helping Hall chip you. I know! Is her hair as shriveled as a hag?"

"No, it's like a burning orange fire when the yellow meets red. You know, ginger blonde..."

"Ooh, a feisty one!" Chino liked where this was going. "Maybe she's got too many wrinkles in her sunburned skin?"

"No, it's white and soft like a baby's skin. I should know!"

"Feisty _and_ physically delicate! I'm guessing her eyes are blue?"

"No. Pure hazel."

"Too skin?"

"Average."

"Awfully badmouthed."

"No, she's a mix of polite and rebellious."

"Bad hygiene, maybe?"

"OK, this is getting..."

CRASH!  
Their conversation got cut off when something seemed to have grabbed the van's bumper and crushed the metal. The men looked ahead. A feminine figure stood in front of the van, her hands clutching the metal.

RJ.

She then pulled her hands away, creating a great tear that actually managed to slice the van in half. It was a good thing that Martin and Chino had some space between them on the front seats, other wise they'd have parts missing.

"Ok, this is new." Martin got rid of his seat belt. He stepped onto the ground and confronted RJ. "RJ?"

She completely ignored him and walked towards the other end of the van like an automatic robot. With one punch, she smashed the crate into bits. She didn't even notice the flux disappearing into thin air.

Her body then turned and aimed a blue ball at them. "DUCK!" Chino grabbed Martin and pushed him out of the way. The van disintegrated into a blue fire made of pure lighting instead of flames.

"H...How did she manage to convert her power's energy into electricity?" Martin lost his shock when RJ created a staff made of Mystical Monkey Power electricity and started running at him. Evidently, she wanted to smack him with it, but Martin was quicker and managed to use both hands to block the staff. His skin sweated as it confronted the intense heat RJ's staff bared. Martin then saw RJ's eyes. She didn't even look like she wanted to kill him. She didn't have that burning passion that gleams in a villain's eyes when they are about to attack. Instead, she just... looked emotionless.

A zap came and RJ silently reacted as if she had been placed on an active electric chair. Her staff disappeared and she dropped on the ground. Martin agitated his hands to cool them off. After all, blocking RJ's attack was hot.

"Man, you sure know how to pick them!" Martin saw Chino taking frantic gasps of air. He then saw the blue mini gun that he held in his right hand.

"You used a taser gun?" Martin was surprised. He never expected that a simple self-defense taser gun would knock out a Mystical Monkey Power fury. "I'll have to remember that one."

"OK, please tell me that I didn't kill her," Chino looked nervously at RJ. She laid on the solid road, completely emotionless and unconscious, only this time it was far worse than when she was awake. There was no sign that she was even breathing. Martin knelt down and quickly removed RJ's left glove in order to press his thumb on her exposed wrist.

"I don't get it. Her blood isn't popping yet it's boiling!" Martin freaked out. "Chino, if you killed her..."

"Hang on, I think I see a lump on her collarbone area!"

Martin saw what Chino was talking about: there was a good sign of a lump underneath her Y.E.A.R.N jumpsuit. He waited no further. Against his usual codes, he grabbed the front zipper and pulled it down, exposing the innocent white flesh of her upper body. He briefly had to look away. He usually didn't like the idea of public undressing.

"Martin! On her neck!" Martin lost his discomfort and looked at Chino, who began putting his hands behind RJ's neck to remove the thing that was resting on her.

"Is that... the Hope Diamond?" Martin gasped in disbelief. "Wow. I can't believe RJ managed to pull off such a heist! I mean, even I can't steal something like that!"

"Except that isn't the real necklace." Chino finally removed the necklace and put it in a small plastic pouch that he kept in his jacket. "It's obviously synthetic. Trust me, I can tell real and fake diamonds apart when I see them."

"Are you saying that RJ stole a fake diamond necklace from the museum?" Martin checked RJ's pulse again. Her body moved, only this time like a sleeping person refusing to wake up. Her emotionless expression was replaced by a frightened frown. It was like RJ was having a bad dream.

Martin found himself too distracted by her innocent state as she was asleep. He was used to seeing her in a feisty, energetic state that called him off whenever she was awake, but now that she wasn't, she unknowingly revealed her fragile side.

Chino put his hand on RJ's forehead since Martin couldn't. "She's hitting a small fever. We need to get her to Milan. Our medical staff can take care of her while I have Hoodie analyze the necklace. She knows the best on synthetic necklaces."

"Thanks, Chino." Martin gently picked up RJ and carried her in his arms bridal style. Even her weight was lighter than a feather, she could have been a fallen angel that fell in the arms of him, the conquering devil.

Martin gave a glowing red glare at the destroyed van and his Monkey Witchcraft powers instantly fixed back in one piece. While a grateful Chino want back on the wheel, Martin decided to remain in the back in order to keep an eye on RJ. By the time the van took off, she had her unconscious head resting on his lap.

 _The things I do in my life_ , Martin shook his head. From underneath his shirt he pulled out his golden zodiac medallion and took out the stone he had recovered from Maori. He gulped. He might as well do it now since they still had a long way to go before hitting Milan. Martin clutched the stone and proceeded to slither his hand under the open area of the jumpsuit. It did not help that the fabric was skintight; it caused him to feel unusually warm.

 _Great Hanuman, her skin's so delicate!_ He silently squirmed as he managed to slip the stone into RJ's underwear and pull his hand out as quickly as he could. The girl let out some minor moans, and was it just Martin, or did RJ look like she was _smiling_?

He let out a small sigh of relief. He finally had all the ingredients. In less than a few hours, the potion would be ready and then he'd hit the next page. Martin couldn't believe how easy things were getting. _Well, except the HenchCo part_ , he thought. _Eventually I'll have to tell them that I'm taking RJ in..._

Martin paused. Now that he thought about it, there was no possible way that 'RJ' could be the American vixen's sole name. From what he heard through Gilliard, they kept things business wise at HenchCo and Y.E.A.R.N, which meant going on a full name basis accompanied by the villains' criminal nicknames. Everyone was either Jack Hench, Melgo Theodora Lipsky, Buffy Killigan, Edina Lipsky, or Gilliard Moss... but RJ was the only acronym Martin ever heard of in that large company. _Perhaps it's just a way to hide who she is?_ It would make sense, since she was a runaway.

Great, now he had _another_ problem...

 _The following morning, back in the Fashionistas' headquarters_

Chino knocked on the door and came in with a tray full of coffee cups and tiny veggie quiches. "How's the medicine coming?"

The moment they had returned to Milan, Martin was granted access to the HQ's small lab so that he could privately make the potion. It took him all night to make it since the poumanu stone needed a maximum of three hours to melt. By the time he finished crafting the potion, he had fallen asleep at 4am and only got three hours of sleep by the time Chino came in with breakfast.

"It's complete." Martin ate a small quiche. "How's she doing?"

Chino tilted his head solemnly. "Her temperature is rising. The medics have tried tranquilizing her, but her body keeps getting stressed out. She's still asleep, but she agitates like she's having a bunch of nightmares that she can't or won't wake up from."

Martin said nothing. He looked at the bottle standing on the counter he had been working on. In that bottle was the red-colored potion he had crafted all night. The light rising from the windows made the fluid sparkle a bit.

He took a deep breath and grabbed the bottle. "Take me to her."

The men walked out of the lab and took the elevator to go up two stories before reaching the floor where the 'hospital' was. It was just a small room, big enough to be a child's room. The walls were covered with paper colored with cloud white, the tiled floor felt cold underneath Martin's monkey feet, and the only main pieces of furniture were a sink and toilet, a cabinet full of pills and syrup, a white nightstand full of magazines, newspapers, and a still hot bowl of chicken soup, and a white patient's bed. In the last one, RJ was tucked inside the blue sheets and dressed in a white patient's dress. Her skin was sweating and her lips were quivering. Chino hadn't joked when he said she looked like she wasn't escaping her bad dreams.

"I'll leave you too alone." Chino gave Martin a good luck glance and left the hospital room, closing the door behind him. Martin put his focus on RJ and walked over to the bed, where he found a small spot for him to sit. His eyes looked down at RJ's poor sleeping state and gently brought his hand to her warm cheek, turning her face to confront his. He uncorked the bottle and cautiously slipped the potion right into her open mouth. The fluid managed to find its way down her throat, Martin shivered a bit when he could see the red stuff pouring down the esophagus through her skin.

The spell didn't specify how the sealing had to be proceeded, so Martin avoided any awkward situation. He brushed away RJ's bangs and leaned down to place a soft kiss on her forehead. He only took five seconds before leaning back up and noticing the changes. The sweat disappeared, the skin's temperature dropped down to a degree, and RJ's eyes opened with multiple coughs.

"S...snob?" She coughed out.

"Vixen," he exchanged the offensive nicknaming.

"W... where... am I?" Her eyes looked around the room they were in.

"In the hospital room of the Fashionistas' headquarters in Milan."

"MILAN?" She started to panic and attempt getting off her bed until Martin grabbed her wrist. "LET ME GO!"

"Lay down," he said firmly. RJ did it instantly, much to her apparent confusion. "Take a deep breath and try to ask me more _nicely_ on why on earth you're in Italy."

"Fine." RJ grumbled and took a deep breath before saying with a cough. "Snob, why on Earth am I in Italy?"

 _And she's back_ , Martin thought. "Long story short, I found out that you tried delaying our bet by having Amelia Hall put me in a wild goose case for a week, I found out that you spent your week with out of control Mystical Monkey Power..."

"A... week?" RJ frowned and coughed. "That can't be right..."

"You're telling me that you remember nothing?" Martin scowled.

"But..." Her eyes widened. "The bridge... _Not again!_ " She dropped her head in the pillow.

"The bridge?"

"I'm... guessing you heard about me stealing the Hope Diamond, right? Well... I was eluding the police and taking the bridge to go to Virginia, but at some point I spaced out, and when things came back, I was arriving at the airport right when a bunch of people said there was an explosion on the bridge... and Melgo screamed at me when she found out I killed 47 commoners... And I spaced out again after I went to the bathroom at the Bowie Casino... And that's the last thing I remember until I woke up."

Martin's scowling expression turned into a frustrated one and he massaged his temples. "RJ, I'm not going to get into further details, but from what I just saw you do during the first half of our bet, it was _not_ what I call _self-control_. And chipping me? It was cheating!"

"I just wanted to... buy myself more time," RJ said.

"No, you could have just gone as we betted and self-control your power on your own... I gave you a chance and you abused it! Also, you killed close to a hundred people in one week because you couldn't handle things." He calmed down and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, RJ. I know you despise me and all, but being my apprentice is the only way you'll be able to handle your power."

"Please, no... Not again!" She tried to get away, but Martin kept her down.

"Not again what? You honestly think staying in the Minalshari will help you stop causing destruction?" He demanded.

"Anything would be better than being locked up again!" She started sobbing and buried her face in the pillow. Martin loosened his grip.

"You... think I'm going to lock you up?" He said. "But why would I do that?"

RJ kept sobbing in her pillow. "Fourteen years... I spent fourteen years inside my grandmother's apartment, with nothing to let me reach out to the outside world. Fourteen years of not having my own life... Fourteen years without friends, parents, and trips outside. Being part of the other villains was the best thing that ever happened to me, even if it meant having to jump down a seventy foot tall building!" She wiped off her tears.

Sympathetic, Martin grabbed the bowl of soup and gave it to RJ, who gave a mere 'thank you' and sat down to eat. Her stomach was growling so loudly, she instantly rushed through the soup despite how hot it was. "Sheltered from the outside world with no contact. No wonder your power is unstable. Without discipline and sense of recognition, it assumes that everything's a threat to you. It must have caused you to 'blank out' just because of that."

"You make me sound like one of those lab experiments from TERROR PARK," RJ said. She put down the bowl on the table.

"That science fiction movie where they experiment humans to turn them into hybrids for the theme park?" RJ looked at him like _he_ was the lab freak. "What? I can't like such movie genres?"

"The mere idea of you watching a movie is terrifying," RJ said smugly. "And believe me, you scare me enough."

 _Later, close to noon_

"You honestly have an odd taste in women," Chino kept shaking his head in amusement while he and Martin were busy waiting for Hoodie to finish examining the 'fake' Hope Diamond necklace.

"For the millionth time, Chino, it's purely a professional relationship!" Martin scowled. "Any who, we've finally managed to come to a truce. She's finally come to see that she needs me to control her Mystical Monkey Power, so she'll be my apprentice until she decides she's ready to kill me."

"That's intense. Couldn't you just have her go with a marriage proposal?" Chino joked.

"Professional... **RELATIONSHIP!** " Martin snapped, his cheeks burning. Why in Pete's sake did Chino find such pleasure at playing matchmaker with him and the vixen? His eyes lifted up to see Hoodie lifting up a hammer and smashing the Hope Diamond with one hit. The necklace fell apart and the jewelry spread over the table, losing their dreamy appearance to those of stiff, revolting black scraps of metal.

The men gasped. "The fake Hope Diamond is just a pile of metal junk with some sort of reflective shield posing them as diamonds!" Martin said. Chino picked a nearby piece and flicked it away in disgust.

"Hold your horses, boys. Not all of this is junk." Hoodie lifted up the thing that used to be the main blue gem for them to see. Instead of a perfectly shaped blue gem, they had a strange piece of metal big enough for Hoodie to hold between her thumb and index fingers. It had the form of a skull with the jaw sticking out like two entangled tentacles. At the center was a dent holding a red orb that flashed tiny red circuits throughout the piece like blood fluids holding up a warning light.

"It... looks like a weird microchip..." Martin reached his hand out, only for his body to suddenly weaken the moment he touched it. If Hoodie hadn't pulled the cursed thing away from him, he'd have fainted.

"Kid!" Chino helped Martin balance himself. The latter took a while to get back on his feet and wipe his sweating forehead.

"That... That thing... The moment I touched it, I felt like I was having my energy drained!" Martin exclaimed.

"But I'm holding it right now and I'm fine," Hoodie said in confusion. Then she gasped. "You and the girl both have Mystical Monkey Power! Maybe that's why you got affected!"

"Oh, this can't be good!" Martin shook his head nervously. "If that thing can drain Mystical Monkey Power-emitted energy _and_ turn the host into an emotionless zombie, that must mean someone managed to create a technology that would enslave anyone hosting the power and RJ was the first victim!"

"OK, I get the part of the necklace brainwashing her, but why _her_ and not somebody from your family?" Chino pointed out. "You Fiskes are the experts and main holders of the power ever since Team Possible, especially its sidekick, disappeared. Why take this unstable girl that just appeared out of the blue?"

Why take RJ? That was an excellent question, even Martin couldn't answer it. He didn't have time yet to study the full length of her Mystical Monkey Power, but surely it couldn't be any different, superior, or inferior to the one he, his previous, and the now gone Ron Stoppable hosted. As far as he knew, the power could only be acquired if it was transmitted through your family or acquired by the Jade Monkey Idols. Martin's father Monkey Fist and Ron Stoppable had used the idols to get the power until they were smashed, and with Stoppable now gone for unknown reasons Martin didn't care to know, that left Monkey Fist as the sole example. And concerning blood heritage, Martin's mother the Simian Witch inherited the power from generations of her family and Martin was born from her and Monkey Fist. And RJ was only six years younger than him, which meant that she could only have gotten the power through genetic means.

Perhaps she was an extremely far distant cousin descended from Toshimu? Maybe she didn't know that she came from a powerful family and was hunted because of it? Martin hoped that wasn't the case. He didn't want to go through incest... WHAT WAS HE THINKING? :X

"Chino, could you put the microchip in a plastic bag?" Martin asked. "I know somebody who can do further research on it. She and her father are spending the week in Cannes, I'll have to stop there with RJ before we reach the French Alps."

"You're not going back to England?" Hoodie asked while Chino put the microchip in a plastic bag.

"And start suspicions on my parents? My mother in particular will go nuts!"

"Afraid that she's going to organize the wedding for you?" Chino joked.

Martin restrained himself from punching the man. "I just can't tell my parents right now that I happen to have a _female_ apprentice, especially one with the power they hoard! All I'm going to do is take RJ with me to the castle in the remote location my father owns in the French Alps, where I'll train her. I mean, that's where I live most of the time whenever I need time off from my parents or they're off for one of their holidays!"

"Great plan, but one thing." Hoodie brushed away the scraps of metal with her hands into one pile. "Like we've heard, the girl is prone to cause accidents because of her lack of exposure to the outside world. You can't just do solely training with her, Martin. Try to interact with her."

"What is it with you and Chino pairing you off with..." Martin got cut off by Hoodie.

"I'm not telling you to romance her immediately! She's probably upset about leaving her new, one-week old life and friends from the Minalshari for you in a permanent sentence, she'd freak out about the idea of you instantly trying to hit it off with her!" Hoodie shook her head. "Martin, I'm just saying. Try to _befriend_ her. Not pursue, not woo, but _befriend._ Try to get to know her, explore her interests, heck take her to places that she'd probably be eager to see since she never got the opportunity... Just try to do these things, and maybe you'll have at least one degree of chance that she won't hate you so much, being together will be unbearable!"

"What, like I care?" Martin scoffed. "Have you met me? I happen to have a record for being a stone heart!"

"So you're saying that you didn't care at all when she got into those mishaps that, as I quote, could 'endanger her'?" Chino pointed out.

Martin raised his finger to say something, but his mouth shut back up when he realized that he had nothing to say. They were right. RJ wasn't already happy about agreeing to be his apprentice, so showing some consideration into her life. "Very well." He took the plastic bag from Chino and tucked it in his shirt. "But we'll have to leave this afternoon or something to get to Cannes. You still have my car in the underground parking lot?"

"Yep." Hoodie nodded as they got out of the room and headed for the elevators.

"Great."

"What happened to your jet?" Chino asked as he pressed one of the buttons going upstairs.

"Don't ask." Martin shook his head. His funeral-like expression suggested two words. _Amelia Hall_. "Uh, Chino. Why are we going to the roof deck..." He froze when Chino gave him a toothy grin and pulled out an ironed red long sleeved buttoned shirt, a pair of black pants, and a hairbrush. "Chino, I already love you as a friend, but I will annihilate you if you expect me to..."

"Relax, he just wants you to clean up. We're having brunch on the roofdeck."

Martin sighed, half-relieved and half-exasperated. As the elevator kept going up, Martin changed from his comfortable ninja garb to the casual modern clothing. It's not that they were ugly, but it always meant him needing to be groomed and turned into one of the Oh Boyz. By the time Chino was done brushing Martin's hair, much to the latter's annoyance, the doors opened and they reached the roofdeck. Surprisingly, for a lair located within a monument, the Fashionistas had a success for turning the roof into a personal platform with a triangular pool, white relaxing chairs, a white garden table with fitting chairs ornated with cherubs, potted hydrangeas, and groomed vines growing on the railing. Goons in aprons were bringing over silver trays full of 'fashionable' brunch food and drinks over to the table. From the roofdeck, one had great view of the city of Milan.

"I can't believe it! You guys actually built your lair inside the Milan Cathedral?"

"Believe me, angel. Lairs within marks of history will _always_ be in fashion!"

"Hey, Espadrille!" Chino greeted Espadrille, who was by the railing watching the view of Milan with someone.

"Chino, Hoodie! What do you think?" Espadrille grabbed the someone's shoulders and pulled her in so that the experts could see her and instantly marvel.

Martin bit his lip. Espadrille had been left to tend on RJ, and the woman ended up dolling the girl in a good way! With the uniform from Y.E.A.R.N being cleaned, RJ had been dressed in a sky blue gypsy shirt, white leggings, and black gladiators. Her hair looked like it went through a series of washing, straightening, brushing, and drying, because they were now in a state of straight waves, even her bangs and sticking strands weren't seen while the wind blew threw them under the sunlight. Black nail polish had been applied, but whatever makeup Espadrille used to make RJ's blush, lips, and eyes stand out... they were natural. Along came the white rose earrings and matching choker necklace.

In other words, she was, much to his own shocking confession...

"Beautiful." He said this so quietly, it was beneath the whisper and dominated by the Fashionistas fawning for RJ, calling her a 'angelo' or 'the true Venere of Botticelli's masterpiece'. Martin had seen RJ in a gown, in her usual uniform, in an outfit for a dinner party, her sleepwear, and even a patient's gown, but all cases she never stood out like this. It was like having some meek sheep get its wool shaved off and use some sort of magic to turn it into the white doe he had before him.

The Fashionistas then got excited when a goon brought over a tray of cucumber soup, taking the lead to the table and leaving the young adults stuck together.

"They got me before I could do anything." Martin gave a blaming group to the trio.

"Yeah, it's... pretty terrifying." RJ turned her head to hide her blushing cheeks. A small breeze went through her hair and hit Martin's nostrils, intoxicating him with an aroma. Either this was her natural scent or Espadrille new a perfume shop that sold perfect chrysanthemum field odors.

"You know... it's the first time I see you wear blue," he said lamely.

"I guess." She shrugged. "I'm grateful and all, but I feel like I've been turned into Caribbean tour Britina. Espadrille even managed to get rid of the lavender scent I had ever since HenchCo decontaminated me on my first day."

"Let me guess." He rolled his eyes. "She found some fashionable brand that makes strong flower perfume?" RJ looked at him blankly. "What?"

"She... didn't put any perfume on me." RJ frowned.

 _Uh-oh._

"Snob, have you been sniffing?" She crossed her arms.

"I'm standing a good step or two away from you, how could I?" Martin protested.

"I don't know, but you have a knack for doing the unexpected."

"Mm. Touché."

"Kids! Do hurry up or the cucumber soup will be cold!" Espadrille called out.

"Espadrille, it's already cold." Hoodie shook her head while RJ and Martin finally sat down... rather stiffly. "It's straight Cairo cucumber soup."

"Seriously?" RJ arched an eyebrow. "You get _soup_ imported from Egypt? What's next, you get your sushi delivered straight from Kyoko?"

"How did you know?" Hoodie asked like a sitcom teenager shocked that somebody discovered her secret. She gave Martin a glare, only for him to raise his hands up in defense.

"Say, Espadrille, you still have a list of trending places in Cannes?" Chino asked. "Martin here plans on stopping there before hitting his lair in the French Alps."

"I thought you lived in England," RJ told Martin. He almost choked in his cucumber soup.

"I do, but only with my parents! And they happen to have this _other_ castle that's part of the Fiske family heritance, only it's in the French Alps, so if I don't want to be with my parents for a certain time, I just go to the other castle, so that's where we're going!"

"Oh." RJ sounded a bit disappointed. This part confused Martin a little bit. "Then again, it makes sense. I don't think I could face your folks yet."

"Yes, Silvia's having early mid-crisis issues ever since she and Monkey Fist returned from the dead!" Espadrille joked in between her sips of cocktail punch. "She'll probably go nuts if she finds out if Martin tells her 'Mother, I have a girl apprentice with me. Don't murder me!'" She and Chino chuckled together, Martin really wanted to punch them. What part of 'professional relationship' did they fail to comprehend?

"Yeah..." RJ rolled her eyes to Martin. "I think the main concern is that your folks aren't aware of the me-having-the-thing issue"

"The thing?" He was confused.

"The _thing_? Starts with an 'M', then a 'y'..."

"Oh, _that_ thing!" Martin got the message. "Quite an agreeing point, that's the main reason for me rushing back home yet."

RJ chuckled nervously and stirred her soup.

"So at what time will you head off to Cannes?" Hoodie asked.

"Perhaps an hour after lunch," Martin said as he finished his soup. "Knowing the person I need to meet up with, we'll be meeting up just in time for dinner at _The Mediterranean Sunrise_."

" _The Mediterranean Sunrise_?" Chino gasped in jealousy. "That is like the only luxurious Japanese-themed hotel in all of Cannes!"

RJ nearly coughed in her drink. Just then, an alarm rang viciously, it caused dogs in the neighborhood to bark wildly.

"Boss, we got an issue." One of the goons checked his tablet and showed them a video footage of someone angrily breaking into the lair of the Fashionistas.

RJ smiled. "Melgo!"


	14. Off to Cannes

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 14: Off to Cannes

RJ didn't want to imagine whatever was happening in the conference room three hallways away from her.

For one, her reunion with Melgo was a joyful one. Her friend had hugged her upon reunion, asking her question on what she remembered, how she was feeling, and what she was doing in Milan. Melgo particularly got angry when RJ confessed that she 'somewhat got sold over' to Martin Fiske, which led to the Big Ms excusing themselves in order to privately argue in the conference walls. Even the walls vibrated from the distant screams.

Espadrille and Hoodie tried to cheer her up by showing her their counterfeit brand factory. It succeeded to a degree since RJ had never seen a fashion factory, whether it was a real or counterfeit one like the Fashionistas had. At least on the advantage side, she could take clothes she liked from seasons that were still yet to come.

Still, even with the fun of free shopping, she couldn't help but feel unhappy.

"Look on the positive side, you'll be staying in a castle," Espadrille tried to encourage the cheer off. "Honestly, I've only been to the one the Fiskes have in England, but the one in the French Alps shouldn't be any different. Silvia always bragged about the flower fields and the mountain view being magnificent there."

"I guess..." RJ shrugged as she folded a royal blue turtleneck sweater and put it in a carry out bag.

"You're still upset about what happened last week." Hoodie guessed. "I can imagine the picture."

"I don't even understand any of it." RJ shook her head and jumped on one of the desks to sit down. "Why I have this power, why my vulnerability makes it so unstable, and why everytime I space out, it means that the MMP is going wild and killing random people, not caring if they're police or civilians! I don't even understand why I stole some sort of metal and blueprints! Heck, I don't even know _where_ they are!" She sighed and took a deep breath, knowing that she couldn't let overridden emotions cause the power to destroy the factory. "Thanks though for figuring it out that there was a microchip in that stunt Hope Diamond, Hoodie."

"Anytime." She nodded. "Just try not to go over it too much."

"How can I? The thing turned me into some sort of zombie and I wasn't even aware that it made my Mystical Monkey Power harm people I don't even know." RJ rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"How about instead of _thinking_ about it, you try _visualizing_ it?" Espadrille put her fingers on top of RJ's eyelids and brought them down, forcing the girl to deal with darkness. "Tell me what you _see_ when you think about the blank world you were in when you got... shut off. How do your surroundings speak to you?"  
RJ bit her lip. She took a bunch of deep breaths and described with the best words possible what she was seeing. "Everything's dark... then there's this dim blue light... Only it's not distant... It's more like, like it's engulfing me while I still can't see my own body in the darkness."

"Interesting. Go on," Espadrille said. Judging by the noise of shuffling paper and graphite scratching, RJ guessed that the women were taking notes.

"It's changing. Now it seems like the dim light is getting wider, but I still can't see my own body... Dim cracks of lightning... Wait... Now I'm feeling unusually dizzy..."

" **RJ!** "  
"Huh!" She popped her eyes open. She didn't know why, but she wasn't on the desk anymore. She didn't know when, but she must have lost her balance and would have landed on the blue tiled floor if Martin hadn't caught her in his arms. She felt too dizzy to even force herself away from him. "Please tell me I didn't do... whatever I did, again..." She rubbed her eyes.

"Aside from scarring a few poor tiles, I don't think anyone got hurt," he said. "Otherwise, you did lose control again."

"Mr. Cheer Squad much?" she rolled her eyes.

"No, it was already taken." He helped her stand up, but his arm didn't let go of her waist. RJ wasn't able to figure out what to make of that oddly protective gesture. She turned her head and saw Melgo kneeling down to rub her gloved fingers on the floor's burned marks.

"How bad did I look?" RJ asked.

"A bit more emotional than the zombie-you, which is what I'm used to with you." Melgo sighed sadly and got up. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is out of my league. If I couldn't coach you control your powers with mere basics, how can I deal with you being microchiped and turned into an emotionless zombie killing machine by some freak I don't know?"

"What about that book you gave me on the basics of Monkey Kung Fu? What am I supposed to do with it now?"

Melgo chuckled nervously. RJ felt Martin's grasp on her waist suddenly tightening. "Easy there on the claws!" She said.

" _You_ used the pink freak to break into my room," Martin muttered before shrieking at Melgo. "YOU USED THE PINK FREAK TO BREAK INTO MY ROOM!"

"The pink freak?" Hoodie asked.

"I think he means Amelia Hall," RJ said nervously.

"How long did it take you to figure it out?" Melgo asked.

"I don't know... Oh wait!" He snapped his fingers with his spare hand. "Next time you want to pick on my lock, don't make it so plasma evident!"

"Melgo, you told me that you got the book from a library!" RJ scowled.

"RJ, I've known this guy ever since I crawled! That guy wouldn't share anything he owns even if you said 'please'!" Melgo protested. "Besides, I was busy keeping your power a secret!"

"You three are probably the worst sitcom I've ever watched." The young adults stopped their bickering to see Espadrille shaking her head in amusement. "The big sister protecting the little sister from the bad boy. Too full of clichés."

"Professional level, Espadrille! Don't push it." Martin let go of RJ and took at least five steps away from her. She huffed and crossed her arms.

"That we can agree on," she grumbled.

Espadrille and Hoodie snickered. Melgo just shrugged. "Look, it's been agreed on. RJ, you're better off learning how to control MMP with Hairy Hands here. I'll go back to HenchCo to let Jack Hench now that you've been hired as an apprentice. I'll have your belongings mailed to Hairy Hands Junior's house in the Alps."

"Must you always keep calling me that?" Martin demanded.

"Well I suppose I could, but that will only be when you decide to start shaving," Melgo sassed. The female Fashionistas made oohing sounds while RJ covered her giggling mouth, unaware that Martin was glaring at her for taking delight in his displeasure.

"At least now I know where she got the bad influence for sending Hall after me," he said.

"Yeah, it was kind of fun giving a tracking chip to Amelia to chase you around." RJ confessed. "Hey, Melgo, how did _you_ do it?"

"Oh, I had her jump down his chimney and chase him around his castle while he was screaming like a girl." This caused them to all laugh, excluding the victim.

"OK, are we done now? I got a car trunk to fill."

 _Later_

They walked down to the underground parking lot of the Fashionistas' lair. So many cars of every single model and color, RJ betted that Edina would be jealous.

"Time to bring in the Platyrrhini." Martin pulled out a car key, brought to you with a banana keychain, and clicked on it. A beeping came from across the white parking lot and a vicious engine roar echoed, followed by screeching wheels and a car automatically pulling up before them. RJ and Melgo's mouth dropped when they saw the silver Lamborghini supercar in front of it, the bright parking lights shining on its smooth surface.

"Fiske, this can't possibly be your car!" Melgo said. The doors popped open, revealing the car to be fashioned in the UK version of driving on the right.

"Hey, I got a life outside of monkeys!" Martin said with a smirk.

"Hold your horses, he's got a silver monkey logo on the steering wheel." RJ peaked at the driver's area.

"Yeah, and that's the only thing you can't touch on this car." He popped the trunk open, and while he and Chino were busy storing bags and boxes in it, RJ tearfully hugged Melgo.

"I'll have HenchCo deliver everything from your apartment to the French Alps," Melgo said. She forced away any sign that she wanted to cry.

"We'll still keep in touch on the online chat rooms, right?" RJ asked.

"Duh!" Melgo ruffled the ginger blonde strands playfully. "Just be careful. _And I mean it, RJ_."

The latter sighed. "Yeah, well it looks like I don't have any other option."

"Oh, a little something for the ride!" Hoodie a blue book and a pencil in RJ's arms. The Fashionista dragged the stammering girl to the car and pushed her on the passenger's seat. Seeing no other option, she buckled up her seatbelt the moment Martin sat on the driver's seat. Melgo's hand grabbed him by the collar before he could lock the doors closed.

"You'd better not mess with her," Melgo warned.

"Trust me, it will be like living with a nuke. I know what I'm dealing with," Martin rolled his eyes. This did not make Melgo loosen her grip.

"No messing... whether it's physical or emotional!" Melgo warned, a hissing tone appearing between her teeth.

"What are you, her sister?" He pushed Melgo's hand away and brought the doors down. His hand twisted the key, bringing a roar from the engine. RJ gave Melgo another goodbye wave before the car dashed off and up the opening garage door exit, disappearing into the sunlight.

"Say, Hoodie. What was that book you gave RJ?" Melgo asked while the garage door went down.

"Animology." The woman gave a vicious smirk.

Melgo blinked before returning the same type of expression. "Oh, RJ's going to have fun!"

 _Meanwhile, back in Middleton_

Will Du re-examined the rope.

He and the agents he had gathered had tried to examine the sight and evidence as much as they could, but so far things were slim. Not much could be found about the disappearance of Ronilda Stoppable.

"Aside from the girl's evident guts in bungee jumping and landing into a dumpster, I can't figure out where she went." Will Du was in Dr. Possible's apartment. The poor old woman was dwelling in at least two cups of coffee. "I fear you'll have to break the secret in order to see if anyone witnessed her disappearance."

"I should have seen it coming." Dr. Possible shook her head. "My daughter tells me to not let my granddaughter out, I put in a lock system on the door, and the last thing I expect is for her to jump out of the building in the middle of the night!"

"My main concern is how she got the rope." Will Du put down the rope on the kitchen counter. "You've clearly stated that you've never kept such equipment in your household, therefore, your granddaughter must have acquired it from outside."

"But she couldn't have gone out! The door's locking system is supposed to lock her in. Only I could open the door... and it's not like she could have crawled through the package slot..." She paused. "Are you insinuating that she had _somebody else_ pass her the rope through the package slot?"

"Perhaps," Will DU admitted. "Perhaps she managed to have some sort of outdoor correspondence who sent her the right equipment to ensure her escape and to perhaps rendezvous with whoever they are..."

The door opened. Since Ronilda wasn't around, Dr. Possible saw no reason to keep it locked, therefore letting the recruited Global Justice agents come in and out as much as they pleased. This time, one of the agents came in with an old woman that Dr. Possible recognized as not only one of her fellow bingo players but also the very first person to have given her daughter Kim a ride.

"Mrs. Mahoney? What a surprise!" Dr. Possible went to greet her friend and welcomed her to the living room.

"Ann, how nice to see you!" Mrs. Mahoney sat down on the couch. "I must say, I never expected you to live in such high grounds!"

"Agent Yu, what is the meaning of this?" Will Du asked the agent.

"After searching for more clues in the alley did not work out, I went off line and decided to go around asking locals if they happened to see a ginger blonde girl walking out of the alley. One of the shop tenants, a hairdresser, said he saw one of his frequent customers giving a car lift to a dirty girl in white rags that she encountered in the streets," the agent explained. "He gave me the address and I found the driver to be Mrs. Mahoney, who, according to the records, gave Team Possible their ride to their first mission."

"Ah, yes," Mrs. Mahoney said. "It was the least I could do after Kimmie rescued my first cat Tabby, but I never expected to see the day where I'd learn that she actually had a daughter!"

"Abigail, I have to know! Where did you take Ronilda?" Ann put her hands on Mrs. Mahoney's shoulders, demanding answers.

"Please, give us every detail possible." Will Du added. "Start from when you first encountered Ronilda."

"Ronilda? That's her name?" Mrs. Mahoney said. "Is Ronald also Kim's husband?"

"Abigail!"

"Sorry. It was about a week and a half ago or something. I was just leaving from my night appointment at the hair salon when I stumble upon this girl, around fifteen. Her hair was messy, her clothes were torn, and she smelled terrible. I asked her when was the last time she took a bath, and she told me before she was bullied in an alley. She then told me that this was her first time outside and she was having trouble following a map to go to Constitution Bridge. Naturally, I took pity on her. I told her 'I actually live in the neighborhood where Constitution Bridge is located. I can drive you there.' I also gave her some wipe towels to clean herself and some of my daughter's old clothes.

"After a ten minute drive, I dropped her off at the Constitution Bridge, I told her 'There you go, sweetheart. Have a safe journey. And next time, make sure to tell your parents and beau that it's not safe for such a nice girl like yourself to be walking alone in an alley.' And then I drove off."

"Constitution Bridge? But that leads out of the city," Ann said in concern. "Goodness."

"Evidently, Possible and Stoppable's daughter wouldn't want to stay in the same area where she was cooped for fourteen years." Will Du turned to Mrs. Mahoney. " Did she tell you at all of who she was and where she wanted to go?"

"No. For most of the ride, she was either busy admiring the passing busy streets or pushing away my cats scratching her." The woman shook her head. "I am surprised, Ann. For someone who used to be a doctor, you should know that keeping a child, especially a teenager, indoors is a bad idea."

"Trust me, I didn't want to, but Kimmie and Ron were desperate! I mean, they were fine raising her for her first two years, and then they tell me that they're afraid that their old villains might come after her and they ask me to take me with her into my apartment. They even moved into a long-distance relationship and changed names to avoid tracking."

"And apparently they had the computer genius burn any evidence of her existence. Birth certificate, health records, social security number... We got nothing that could help us use any form of security system to track Ronilda."

"And now I don't know how else to find Ronilda. For sure, I can't tell her parents that I lost their kid!"

"Perhaps it's not too hopeless," Agent Yu suggested. "After Constitution Bridge, the only human location is the Middleton Motor Lodge. Ronilda must have at least made a stop there. Perhaps we could go there to investigate. Ask the personnel or even see if their security cameras caught a glimpse of her."

"Why, Agent Yu, that's a very good idea!" Will Du gave a praising pat on the agent's back. "I'll let Dr. Director know that you should get a recognition for your situation analysis."

The agent gave a grateful nod.

"God, I don't want to imagine the awful situation she's in!" Ann held her hands, wondering what was her granddaughter's horrible fate.

 _Meanwhile, back in Europe_

Of all the quiet car rides he ever took in his car, this one was particularly awkward.

Neither he nor RJ dared to start a conversation during their three-hour long drive, either because he had no idea on how to start one or she really didn't want to... both reasons being that they were now together. Martin bit his lip at the memory of Chino and Hoodie teasing him about him being attracted to RJ. It had to be false, since he spent years unaffected by women swooning at him. How could the ginger blonde sitting next to him change anything?

 _You did make her unknowingly drink a potion that will make her physically do anything that you want_ , part of his mind commented.

 _Only to soothe my plagued mind_ , he thought viciously. _Besides, now that I know she has Mystical Monkey Power, it will also act as a semi-tranquilizer. Last thing I want is to have her blow up my castle._

 _That, and you like her._

 _SHUT UP!_

Only his clutches on the steering wheel tightened to show his frustration. Well, it wasn't like RJ was paying attention to him at all. She was distracted with the scribbling she was doing through that book Hoodie gave her. He did want to make a comment about how books should not be doodled on.

"Well that's the dumbest thing I've ever read."

He blinked when he heard RJ finally talk. "Pardon me?"

"Sorry. I'm just a bit confused with the last question of this Animology book that Hoodie gave me..."

" _Please_ tell me the Fashionistas are trying to murder me with the presence of this cheap matchmaking propaganda that has been going on since the 2000s!" He groaned.

"What? It's just a silly personality quiz," RJ said. "I'm only trying to occupy myself with the car ride..."

"By finding out what colorful animal matches your personality?" Martin scowled.

RJ smirked in amusement. "You took the test, didn't you?"

"No!" Martin denied. Her amused arched eyebrow rose up, and he was not going to give her the satisfaction. "Gilliard tricked me into doing it."

RJ giggled a bit before biting the tip of her pencil. "I don't suppose you remember what you gave for the last question?"

"My brain is fried," he said dully.

"'In an epic battle to save the world, you discover that the love of your life and trusted partner is actually the child of your family's foe. What do you do? Stick with your heart or tradition or dwell on it for so long, you cause an accident.'" She read out loud. "It's probably the dumbest thing I ever read."

"Do tell." He snorted. "I might as well have skipped it. I could care less about romance, but if I did, I'd be mortified if I found out I fraternized with the offspring of Ron Stoppable."

"Your parents' arch-foe. So I've heard." RJ scratched onto the paper, flipped through the previous pages, and then searched through the last ones. "Well, your cheap matchmaking propaganda has labeled me an orange vixen. In other words, I'm eager to open up to others, I can be rather manipulative..."

"Score on that." He remembered too badly how RJ helped Amelia microchip him in order to delay their bet.

"...but I'm also vulnerable... which means that no matter how much I try, I could never fit in any side." She shut the book and slumped on the seat. "Talk about bogus."

Martin briefly looked at her, seeing her rather upset face as if she had just been forced to look at her own reflection. "I'm not expert on comforting, but you'd have to be stupid to think that Animology declares you an outcast. You easily fitted in with the other villains even though you're a newbie."

She smirked. "The snob _does_ know how to compliment! Who knew?" Martin turned his head. He had felt his cheeks blushing. "So what did you get when _you_ did the Animology?"

"You don't want to know."

"Red lemur?"

"How did you know?" Martin gulped.

"I figured since I remembered Gilliard telling me about a story where your dad was mistaken for a lemur mascot and was arrested for impersonating one A weird crime, but rather funny."

"And that is the reason why Father never let me go to high school." He scowled when he saw RJ ignoring him as she flipped through the pages.

"Red lemur. Tall, dark, and brutal perfectionist. Strives to make sure that things go his way, antisocial... the total bad boy with a lot of hair..."

"Go figure."

"Yet at the same time holds too many insecurities, which prevents him from hiding his soft side..." She blinked at the page and instantly shut the book. "You're right. It's cheap matchmaking propaganda!"

"I could have told you that."

"Because you obviously aren't soft. I do agree with the 'brutal' part."

Martin gasped in shock. "I beg your pardon! If I were so brutal, I'd have tied you up and thrown in the trunk rather than give you a plush front seat!"

"Or you'd have killed me."

 _This again_ , he grumbled in the back of his head. "For the millionth time, RJ, I will _not_ kill you!"

"But why?" Martin was lucky they finally hit traffic, otherwise he would have stopped the car right there on the road. He looked at he while they waited and she continued with the questions. "I mean, I keep hearing 'The Fiskes have "Mystical Monkey Power" and will kill any enemy who has it' or that the Fiskes hated Ron Stoppable for having it and kept trying to murder him. I have the power, I'm not a Fiske, so what's so peculiar about me that you wouldn't go after my hide?"

What was so peculiar about her? An excellent question. Was it because of how she plagued his mind? How she was impulsive and partially clever? That she had rather powerful Mystical Monkey Power? That some mysterious hunter was after her?

"I... well.. It's more complicated than that, RJ. My parents' main issue with Ron Stoppable is that he hated monkeys like the plague, stole the power, which he didn't want, just to challenge them, and he smashed the power-bearing Jade Idols. He doesn't even deserve it."

"So what? You're saying I deserve it? I mean, I'm not a monkey phobic, but at the same time I don't see them the way you do with such fascination. What makes me deserve the honor of having the power?"

"I don't know." He simply shook his head. "I hope to figure out. After all, you did just come out of the blue and you've been sheltered without contact for the sole reason of protecting you. Perhaps you inherited the power through a family that wanted you to be ignorant of such a fact for your safety." He moved forward with the rest of the cars. "Since we're currently nagging, do satisfy me this one curiosity. Your name really isn't RJ, is it?"

As if to answer him, RJ stiffened in her seat and turned her head in order to A, avoid his glare, and B, to get a better view of the city of Cannes approaching before them. "Sorry, snob. That's for me to know and for you to rip off the hair on your monkey hands and feet because you'll never find out," she said bluntly.

Martin scowled. "RJ, I'd rather hear from you then start doing personal research. Things always get nasty when I do personal research."

"And things will get nastier if I start losing my temper and Mystical Monkey Power damages your perfect Platyrrhini!" RJ warned. Martin was about to say something until he noticed a traffic officer giving driving directions at a crossroad. Out of instinct, he reached for the glove department and brought the door down. He pulled out a pair of black leathered gloves, sunglasses, and town shoes. He snapped his fingers and red ghostly monkeys hovered around his feet, hands, and eyes. The figures disappeared the moment the accessories appeared on the fitting limbs. RJ looked at him, disturbed, but that was debatable because he wasn't sure if she was creeped out by him using Monkey Witchcraft to disguise himself or that he later spit on his gloves and in order to pull back his hair.

The Platyrrhini successfully passed the unsuspecting officer and made its way through the streets of Cannes. RJ took a moment to geek at the moving white buildings, the infinite amount of palm trees, the area where they held the Film Festival, and the beautiful view of the sea and beaches. Martin drove up the road to the area where most of the private beaches were, and then to an area void of tourists or relaxing chairs, where the blue waters hit the rocks with giant fists of water and the sand was virgin.

The _Mediterranean Sunrise_ came into view. While its exterior architecture gave it the look of a traditional black-and-white Japanese palace, there were hints of modernism, such as the evident electricity in the rooms, the private pool for the guests, the parking lot full of fancy cars, and the majority of the suites facing the sea and each having a wooden balcony with a series of steps leading straight to the patch of sand.

"This is incredible..." RJ gasped.

"It is," Martin said. "And the best part is that I won't have to hide my monkey limbs."

"You really should just consider getting yourself fingerless gloves or sandals," she pointed out.

"The vixen _does_ care! Who knew?" He joked, which made RJ bite her lips.

An available valet came to park the vehicle and bring their luggage to their suite the moment Martin managed to sign them in at the lobby. They were given a 2nd floor suite, complete with two separate rooms, two bathrooms, a living room, and a balcony leading straight to the beach.

"Gosh! My first time near a beach... in France!" RJ geeked as she rushed to the large glass door for a better view.

"Easy there, RJ. We're only in Cannes for a couple days..." He pulled out the microchip, which was still held in a plastic bag. "Remember, the only reason we're here is because I need to reach out to my acquaintance who can analyze the chip that controlled you."

RJ lost her smile. It was obvious that her guilt from last week's events was sinking in.

"But hey, there will be time for, you know... walking at the beach, hotel activities, and seeing a bit of Cannes..." His voice trailed off.

RJ nodded her head in appreciation. "So how are you sure that your 'acquaintance' is gonna be here?"

"Easy." Martin searched through the packages. "This week is the Geisha-Half-Price Week. Everyone I know who comes here will definetly be present at the opportunity of getting half of everything."

"A 50 percent discount? For a week? I don't see how it's so special."

"Well, there is _one_ catch about the Geisha- Half- Price- Week. See, clientele groups, couples, and whatnot, must have at least one member..." He let his wicked grin speak for itself as he pulled out, unraveled, and held up the thing for RJ to see. Her eyes widened in horror.

"Oh, no...NOT THE FURISODE!"

"You lost the bet, you have to wear it," he said in a sing-song tone while his hands waved the kimono as if it were a flag. "Besides, it's the least you can do after the way you helped Amelia Hall microchip me."

"Keep dreaming!" She spat.

"I could nag you until you break and tell me your name," he added.

She gritted her teeth and finally sighed in exasperation. She snatched the furisode from his hands and marched to the nearest bathroom under his triumphant glare.

"Make sure you shower first!" He shouted. RJ roared and slammed the door. Martin snickered in amusement. Now he managed to understand how the American vixen felt whenever she made some comment at him that would normally bug him.

He went to the other bathroom to change himself. After a warm shower, he waved his hands around him and engulfed himself into another swarm of Monkey Witchcraft until he was dressed up in a black tuxedo and red shirt. While he took the liberty to use a hairbrush to straighten the hair he had in every visible part, a shout came from the other bathroom.

"Hey, snob! How the hell am I supposed to put this darn thing on?"

 _That woman_. He rolled his eyes and headed to the other bathroom. He held back his blush when he saw RJ, hair soaked, and dressed in the kimono's white dress slip. She was having a hard time figuring out how to put the actual kimono on.

"Allow me." He walked over and took the right end of the back seam, pulling it to the left until it tightened softly on the girl's physique. "Please pass the white belt." RJ gruffly gave him the belt and he started tightening it around her waist. He felt her stiffen when he tied the knot just above her midriff. "Monkey eludes the tiger, climbs up the tree, swings on the next vine, and traps the tiger in its loop."

"What's that?" RJ asked.

"A trick that I learned for tying knots when I was a child." He then grabbed the black obi silk and wrapped it around to cover the white belt. "There, kimono placed."

Before RJ could speak up, he grabbed her hair and twisted it up in a bun, with a few strands sticking out at the front. When he let go, the bun stick, courtesy of the red hair clip he created. He then rubbed RJ's eyes with two fingers while another finger poked at her lips. He took a step back and waved at the mirror for RJ to see. Her mouth opened mute, unable of what to say about the reflection wearing a red kimono with black butterflies and cherry blossom patterns, her hair tied up rather radiantly, and her face covered with natural looking eyeshadow and lipstick.

"It's... I..." RJ stammered. "I don't know what to say."

"Well, I'll speak up first, vixen. You look beautiful." He froze. "But in the sense of 'acceptably formal', not, you know..."

"Don't push it further." RJ scowled when she saw the wooden Japanese sandals her feet were forced to wear. "I'm so going to fall in those idiotic things."

"You could always go barefoot," Martin suggested.

"And that comes from the guy who insists on wearing shoes for required formalities."

"Afraid of getting dirty?"

She responded by taking off one of the sandals and throwing it at him. He simply dodged it. One of the walls, however, suffered from a new form of wooden shuriken that impaled its good paint.

"Remind me to confiscate your high heels," he said, a sweat drop trickling down his neck.

 _Minutes later_

They went down to the lounge-dining hall of the _Mediterranean Sunrise_. Quite a lovely sight, with modern black curved booths and white clothed tables, one wall serving as a giant aquarium with swimming koi fish, a karaoke stage on the other side of the room, and servants pulling carts full of Eastern cuisine around the tables full of customers.

"Hello," the host spoke up from his booth. "Welcome the _Mediterranean Sunrise_ 's five star dim sum restaurant, the _Koi Tsunami_. A table for two?"

"If this place is Japanese, why they sell Chinese food?" RJ questioned Martin.

"How should I know? I'm a supervillain, not a Western commercial profit-con artist!" Martin told her before turning to the host. "Good evening, I was wondering if you recently let one of your guests and a friend of mine inside the _Koi Tsunami_."

"Depends. What does he look like?" The host asked.

"Yellow skin, wears a lot of red, rather short, wears a helmet, speaks very loudly..."

"Snob, don't be racist!" RJ punched him on the arm.

"The guy's not even Asian!" Martin protested. "He's..."

"Herr Martin! Here? What a surprise!"

RJ and Martin synchronically turned their heads. Just three tables away, a man and a girl sat at a table full of food. They're skins were mustard yellow, and their outfits were rather red, but judging by the black helmet the man wore over his face, the scientific glasses on the girl, and the over-the-top German accents, they were obviously European and supervillains.

"Professor Dementor... Hello!" Martin gave a small smile and hand wave...

"Pops, he finally cracked! He's brought a Fraulein!" The girl, clearly Professor Dementor's daughter, motioned RJ.

... Which caused Martin to slap himself on the forehead and groan in exasperation.

"Shall I get two extra chairs for you to sit with Mr. and Ms. Demenz?" The host asked RJ.

"Sure." She then pointed a finger at Martin. "We'll also take an order of ice packs. Something tells me he's going to be slapping himself all night."


	15. Dementors and Night Seashells

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 15: Dementors And Night Seashells

If there's one thing that odd restaurants like the _Koi Tsunami_ have that normal ones don't have, it's available coolers full of ice packs that could be brought straight to your table. At least eight were brought over to the table the moment RJ and Martin sat down to join the Dementor Clan. Martin was already using the first one.

"So nice to see that the Herr Fiske has found himself a Fraulein." Professor Dementor shook hands with RJ. "I'm Professor Dementor, and this is my daughter, Dementia."

"Sup?" The girl sitting next to him greeted RJ casually.

"Hi." RJ restrained herself from asking brutal questions such as why on Earth the professor called himself after a Harry Potter or why his daughter's ponytail oddly reminded her of someone RJ already knew. "I'm RJ."  
"Really?" Both father and daughter frowned.

"Why do you ask?" RJ asked while servants brought more tea, which Martin didn't hesitate to fill himself a cup.

"Well, the accent is evidently American... and it's a miracle you're with British Bad Boy here." Dementia smirked and pointed a finger at Martin, who managed to ignore her comment thanks to his occupied hands. "But you seem perfectly blended. I mean, only experts like us can see that you're the result of combining two complete forces..."

"Please speak English," Martin grumbled. "I already have an ice pack and I don't need another one."

"It just means that the Fraulein here is a rare example of 'opposite attract'," Professor Dementor said. "Religion-wise, it's clear she's raised Catholic, but at the same time she's half Jew..."

"I'm half Jew? Who knew?" RJ said, surprised.

"You mean you don't know?" Dementia said.

"She never met her parents," Martin filled in. "Lived with her grandmother for fourteen years, completely unexposed to the real world..."

"And completely stuck with Snobartin."

Martin spit his tea out and gasped at RJ. "How did I go from snob from _Snobartin_?" He demanded.

"Eh. It's a crossover of your name and the nickname I gave you. Thought it would go well with your pompous attitude."

Martin's cheek puffed while Professor Dementor and Dementia covered their snickering mouths. "Dementia, word." Martin got off the table and pushed Dementia out in order to drag her to what seemed to be the direction for the bathrooms, leaving RJ alone with the supervillain.

"So I'm half Jew?" She said. "I guess it explains why I dislike eating pork. But how come you know this stuff just by looking at me?"

"Fraulein, I have taken many scientific studies from technology to genetics that have helped me strive as a mad scientist and world domination seeking villain. I even do a thorough analysis of my henchmen before hiring them." He took RJ's hands and turned them to see the lines on her palms, fingers, and knuckles, pointing at a few. "Your wrists have an equal amount of stretched flexibility, so you're obviously ambidextrous and, ooh, a quite talented self-taught cook!"

RJ shrugged awkwardly. "Oh..."

"Many fingers with healed paper cuts... You obviously are a big reader. No wonder you're with Herr Fiske." Dementor smirked and continued. "Uh. You actually have enough understanding of medicine to perform your own surgical suture from when you had a bad cut at the back of your left hand... You have little experience in combat, yet you're a quick learner, judging by your knuckles.."

"Wow. It's like you know my life more than I do..." RJ was amazed.

"Yes, and then when observing the rest of you, it's concluded that you have the maternal facial and body structure, but you have the paternal skin and eyes... And the hair is a perfect mix. One of your parents must be a redhead while the other is blonde. It's amazing that against the rules of nature, you evened things out."

RJ was speechless. "And it's particular how you are half-Jew, half-Christian, yet you have the physical expression of a maiden named with something ending with '-ilda-'," Dementor added.

She was pouring herself tea in a cup and would have almost snapped the metal handle. Her spine stiffened at the villain's words. Granted, she was amazed that he managed to read out most of her life, but the last thing she'd want was for him to find some unknown manner to conclude that RJ was actually hiding Ronilda. It already didn't help that she was stuck with a snob whose family had a problem with guy idiotically named 'Ron Stoppable'.

"But you know, we're all villains here and we use great names to hide ridiculous identities." He stuffed his plate with most of the culinary treats that stood out before him and gave RJ and encouraging hand gesture, which she accepted and started putting seasoned fish on her plates.

"So how long do you know the snob?" RJ asked.

"Oh, I met him when he was only a week old!" Dementor chuckled while stuffing himself with noodles. "A group of villains, the Seniors, threw an all-villain party to celebrate Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch's newborn son. An adorable little _Säugling_... He was even more adorable when he stuck his tongue at Team Possible for the very first time."

"Really? I find that hard to believe." RJ tried to imagine the dark snob as a week-old infant in a blue baby's pajamas while sticking his tongue at an adult. She grimaced and shuddered. "I can't see him like that. At _all._ "

"Since we're talking first meetings, how did _you_ meet Herr Fiske?"

"I stumbled on him in my dressing cabinet at Très Chez Léon while he was being pursued by Amelia Hall."

Professor Dementor exploded into laughter. "You two stumbled upon each other in a _dressing cabinet_? While he was pursued by his stalker? I can't believe I missed it!"

RJ quickly glanced at the direction Martin took. A vicious grin came to her face. "I don't suppose you heard of the Martin and Microchip Issue..."

 _Meanwhile_

Martin had dragged Dementia to the bathrooms (good thing they were all co-ed) and was lucky that nobody was around to eavesdrop at their conversation.

"So you want me to analyze this?" Dementia looked at the microchip concealed in the plastic bag. She still had a hard time digesting Martin's story. After all, she was a woman of science, not magic.

"I get it sounds completely wacked," Martin admitted, "but the fact that somebody managed to use science to control a host of Mystical Monkey Power worries me. Especially since RJ's is awfully unstable. I mean, you heard of the terrorist claims from last week in the US, right?"

"I have." Dementia nodded. "Fair enough. Out of the good friendship we have, I'll study the microchip in my lab the moment my vacation is over. With such small, foreign technology, it may take a while."

"How long?"

"Give me until June at the most if the diagnosis takes longer."

"Alright. After all, training RJ into gaining balance of her power could take a while..." He opened the door out of the bathrooms.

"Hopefully date her." Dementia smirked.

Martin succeeded in ripping the door off the wall and throw it aside in frustration. "First the Fashionistas and now the Dementors!" He snarled. "Why does nobody get the concept of 'professional relationship' in Europe?"

"Probably because you Fiskes hate the idea of others having the MMP." Dementia shrugged. "You, on the other hand, let the Fraulein live."

"But that's different!" Martin protested. "Ron Stoppable is my parents' arch-foe and a monkey-phobic! RJ's nothing like that! Granted, she keeps calling me a snob and she helped Amelia Hall microchip me..."

"And yet she's still with you." Dementia grabbed Martin by the wrist and pulled him behind the aquarium (the bathrooms were located just behind it). She put him in a spot where they could see Dementia's father and RJ going through the food and laughing as they shared stories that the fish tank prevented Martin from hearing.

"If there's one thing I know about you, Martin, is that your big pride prevents you from accepting things you find irrelevant or unrelated to your hereditary obsessions." The yellow-skinned Dutch-German girl said before shaking her head. "You can't deny that you've got some slowly developing feeling for her. After all, if you didn't care for her, she'd be an emotionless zombie or you'd have killed her merely for having the MMP.

"Well I..." Martin hesitated. He looked back at the blue display of RJ conversing with Dementor. RJ, looking far healthier than she did when she had the microchip or when Martin first found out RJ had Mystical Monkey Power.

"And for somebody who seems to be getting on your nerves, the Fraulein is quite pretty," Dementia pointed out teasingly, which Martin burn his cheeks. Still, RJ did look pretty when dolled up and Martin couldn't even get started with the furisode.

"This is ridiculous." He shook his head and crossed his arms. "RJ already thinks she's not my type or I'm hers. I managed to turn from snob to Snobartin."

"With luck, it could become an affectionate insult," Dementia said. She patted him on the shoulder. "If I'm wrong, I won't whine. Just be careful on how you approach this if it turns out that the slow blooming feeling turns into a crush."

They headed back to the table, just in time for a cart full of warm mochi to be pulled in.

 _Later, back in the suite_

At least they got to take the cooler full of ice packs to go. Martin felt like he would need plenty until they reached the castle.

Unlike him, the mad professor and his daughter had a curfew tonight, but managed to make the deal of spending some time together before the two groups went their separate ways. Dementia really wanted RJ to have the full-girl experience.

Speaking of girl, he looked at the balcony. He saw RJ sitting outside, just on top of the stairs leading to the beach, and watching the dark waves splashing into the empty patch of sand. The wind blew in her ginger blonde locks, and while not even a breeze came through, it brought the suite a scent of the ocean.

Dementia's words still echoed in his head, which put him in an uncertain state. Did not disposing of RJ and wanting to take her in mean that he cared? Normally he'd have every reason to get rid of someone who irritated him (he still wished he got rid of Amelia Hall in the first place), especially someone who burned his pride more easily than it took you to swat a fly, yet he wanted RJ to live. Sure, his previous readings suggested that her plaguing his mind meant she was supposed to be with him, but he just thought it meant at his side on his quest for monkey domination. He didn't think it meant being with him _romantically._

He shook his head. _No, it's just a professional relationship_ , he tried to set the record straight. Then again, he remembered the family stories of 'How Your Father Gets His Appendages and The Stalker Issues That Followed.' _Like Victor Frankenstein chasing the monster around because he's got a crush_ , Gilliard's father Gill had suggested once.

 _Seriously? Now this is getting ridiculous!_

Feeling like he could actually use a dose of fresh air, Martin stepped out into the balcony. RJ was still there, sitting and watching the landscape. She had happily discarded the furisode in order to go back to the original clothes she wore when they arrived, except now she wore white shorts and no shoes.

"Enjoying the view?" Martin asked casual to avoid making her yelp in fright. He kept his distance by standing up on the balcony's rails.

"In a way," RJ shrugged. "It's surprising to see such neutrality in something that covers the Earth."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Think about it." She waved her hand at the sea. "It's so volatile. The sea can be calm, serene, and basically bring along the nice waves that people like to see when they're on vacation. But at the same time, it's also violent. Storms, hurricanes, ships drowning... not to mention how waves can occasionally cause unfortunate swimmers and surfers to face sea predators or clash ocean rocks." She sighed.

Martin looked at the ocean himself. "That is quite a philosophical approach to it."

RJ inhaled the sea scent in. "Bright side is that I can actually physically see such a thing myself rather than just read it."

Martin hid back his small smile and started walking down to the beach, the grainy sand instantly hitting his toes. He looked back at the balcony. "You know, the view is far better when you have a closer stand," he said.

RJ seemed to hesitate. In the end, she ended up getting up and cautiously putting her foot in the actual sand, which made Martin somewhat pity the idea that RJ probably never even played in a sandbox when she was younger. After at least five minutes, she finally walked the beach.

"Feels like walking on crushed cereals," she said.

"Crushed cereals that came from so many decades of erosion, I highly disrecommend eating it." Martin held out his arm.

RJ put her hand over her mouth to cover the giggle. She did cede in and let her right arm be held on by his left one. A strange current passed the moment they crossed, but they simply assumed it came from the waves as they walked further towards the water, making it increase as they approach.

"My grandmother did use to bring me seashells back in the apartment," RJ said. "Only now that I think about it, I guess they were fake. It's not like she had the time to go on vacation while she had to worry about me... except when she went off to bingo games once I was thirteen."

"I still fail to accept the belief that one elderly woman would be capable of raising a child in extreme conditions," Martin said. "It's a miracle you managed to stay sane."

"Hey, I'm not calling her a complete monster or anything." RJ shook her head. "She always says my parents begged her to keep me safe. From what I don't know."

"Still..." Martin looked at the waves rather than the glare he hoped not to see. "Did they honestly believe you could remain cooped in there like some caged domesticated pet? Adulthood? Retirement? What if your grandmother had passed away, would you have finally been exposed to the outside or would she have found a replacement..." He felt her hold on his arm tightening and he turned to see her face horribly frozen. "I'm sorry. I... I didn't mean to make the stabbing remark..."

"I needed it." She paused in her tracks and Martin noticed her watching a flock of seagulls flying away the moment the two approached the patch of wet sand. The hazel eyes looked with interest at a seagull cautiously flying next to a smaller, fluttering one, indicating a mother bird helping its nestling get used to flying properly. "Honestly, the main parts of human life never got my attention as much as the _desire_ of having a life. OK, I did make friends, but I didn't think much of the establishments that people go through when they decide to build legacies or proliferate humans. You know, the whole idea of settling and founding a family. But then again, I never had a proper family, so I don't know what it feels like." She sighed. "Your comment has made me realize that better. If I had stayed back in my nest, even if my grandmother had gone off, I'd be in solitude."

They let go of the arm holding so that RJ could bend down and get a hold of some sand. A smile appeared on her face suddenly and she started balling up the sand. "You know, I still never managed to get back at you for making me wear the furisode."

"We discussed this," Martin groaned. "It's the least..."

A ball of sand hit him the face.

He coughed. "What was that for?"

"We almost got chummy, and I didn't like it, so I threw you a sand ball to snap myself out of it!" RJ snickered.

"Very cute..." Martin rubbed off his beach facial, only to use one of his monkey feet to build up a ball and launch it out. RJ got it right in the hair.

"Hey!" She protested.

"What?" Martin mockingly pouted. "Afraid to get dirty?"

"No... not at all..." She said, just before she picked up a hermit crab and he threw it at him. He grabbed it by the shell and tossed it back in the sea, only to turn and see RJ throwing him a bunch of seashells rapidly like a bunch of shuriken. He yelped and bounced in the air, making an arched twist that resulted in him swimming in the water.

"Holy!" RJ ran at the waves and into the first few layers of water until the level reached her by the hips. She looked around the waves and back at the beach, but the snob was nowhere in sight.

Something grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her into the water. Once it let go, she stuck her head back out and found Martin snickering. "Enjoyed the bath?" He asked. She responded by spitting seawater at him.

"Water's good," she snickered back. He said nothing while she tried to keep her feet on the underwater bank of sand. "It's odd. I don't even know how to swim and yet I'm not drowning."

"Positively speaking, you are in the one best area to collect seashells." Martin sank back in the water and returned his hands full of wet sand that cascaded through his fingers, leaving in his grasp a dozen unscathed seashells, corals, and other queer treasures. RJ beamed at the underwater beauty that lay before her.

"Granted, the waves bring a thousand shells, but if you don't look well enough through the layers..." He ran his fingers through the pieces, dropping some in the process, and pulled out the best of the booty: a nautilus shell, made of pure white and outlined in silvery gray. Not one crack was on its shell. Martin dropped it into RJ's palm. At the sudden contact with her skin, the nautilus glowed blue, spreading its light through the shell and changing it so that the seashell now looked light blue with silvery outlines of lotus blades. "I did not see that coming," he said.

"I... did not mean to do that," RJ said. "I didn't even know Mystical Monkey Power could change something as simple and natural as a seashell..."

"Nothing in life is simple and normal. If _I were_ simple and normal, I couldn't do this." He took the nautilus shell back and crushed it in his fist, his hand glowing red and emitting a strange screeching sound. RJ expected to find broken seashell shards, but instead Martin's palm revealed the nautilus shell in its bluish state, only red vines had been added to it to create a brooch... and there were tiny diamonds attached to it.

"Wow..." RJ gasped. She stiffened when she felt his monkey hand push her hair towards the left side and pin in the brooch to keep the hair in.

"Will you look at that. You got a souvenir from Cannes and I didn't even have to pay for it!" He joked.

And for once, RJ didn't give out any nasty comments back.

 _Meanwhile, somewhere we_ _ **still**_ _don't know_

"How is it going with your project, sir?" The figure asked the master figure as it observed some blueprints while also checking what was going on at the other side of the window.

" _It's actually going slower than I anticipated_." The master figure grimaced.

The serving figure scoffed. "Primitive resources like the junk the humans use is slowing you down? You must be joking!"

" _And this is coming from the alien who is_ _ **half-human**_ _?" The master figure grunted._

"Hey, don't forget I'm not exactly on your side for your invasion plan because it's amazing. I'm only doing it for the money. That's why you hired me!"

 _"Yes, yes, I know!_ _You'll have your money... once the task I want you to achieve is complete."_

"Can't I just go on Earth and fetch Ronilda Stoppable now? Me and the rest of my squad are getting bored!"

" _You'll go get Ronilda as soon as the project is ready_." The master figure pointed at the window. Dark flashing lights came from it, giving a show worthy of the New Year's Eve fireworks. " _The tungsten and blueprints make a fine machine when enhanced by our technology, but the information sent in by the microchip was far revealing. Unless it is mistaken, Ronilda Stoppable may be in fact the most destructible force in the universe. Activating the machine against the humans through her power is one thing, but keeping her massive force is another._ "

"Can't you just make another microchip far better than the prototype?" The serving figure raised an eyebrow.

" _Not quite. You'd be surprised, but I thought that it was insane enough that such a power existed on that mediocre planet that would give_ _ **one**_ _puny sidekick the capacity to defeat two invincible warriors. But now that I now it's actually a power that doesn't even_ _ **originate**_ _from their world, I'm doubling my payment if you'll do a little information shopping for me."_


	16. Lafayette of Emotions

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 16: Lafayette of Emotions

One of the things that Martin and Professor Dementor could definetly agree on is that they never could understand women.

The moment Martin and RJ encountered the Dementor clan at breakfast, it was an official social time out there in Cannes, which didn't seem like a problem when you spend all your morning doing things like walking down the Promenade de la Croisière where they could get their photos taken in front of the building where the Cannes Film Festival always took place, going to a local café for brunch, or visiting the diverse museums. Martin couldn't tell what was the most fun part about visiting the museums: the fact that he enjoyed being surrounded by old cultures or that RJ smiled a lot everytime she got excited for almost every single exhibit she encountered?

Then things just had to fall apart when RJ and Dementia decided to massacre three hours worth of the afternoon by going to the Galeries Lafayette. That's right. Visiting a coastal French city full of culture and beaches was beaten by a girl's strongest desire. _Shopping._

"The amount of euros my daughter is making me spend," Dementor grumbled while he and Martin were sitting on one of the benches in the shoe section, both men having their arms crossed and having a pouting frown. They'd probably win the golden medal for Europe's male team at the Grump-Olympics... if that even existed.

"Do tell." Martin rolled his eyes. "I meet RJ when she's shopping with her new friends at Très Chez Léon back in the Minalshari Mall, then after she becomes my apprentice the Fashionistas give her clothes, and now she's probably going to have me fry my credit cards! What am I going to tell my parents?"

"They still don't know about your Fraulein?" Dementor asked.

"She's not _my_ Fraulein," Martin struggled to remain calm, "and no, my parents don't know yet. I still need time to figure out how to tell them that I have an apprentice who happens to have Mystical Monkey Power and who's female. You know how they feel about... Oh, you already know my family issues!"

"I do, but it's not like the Fraulein is a female version of Kim Possible's sidekick." Dementor shrugged matter-of-factly. "And honestly, what is there to despise about her?" He turned his head to motion at Dementia and RJ, who were five to eight feet away and admiring a row full of dresses with printed floral patterns. "Look at her. Even with her stubborn and feisty attitude, she has the heart of an angel. I can't imagine anyone hating someone like her."

Martin looked at RJ right when she searched through blue dresses with prints that looked like chrysanthemums. "Well, when you put it that way..." God spare the Queen or Hanuman or whatever, he had to admit that while she annoyed him with her remarks, her nicknaming him, and he wasn't going to remind himself of her helping his stalker microchip him, she did have that sweetness and fascinated, if not naive, personality that warmed your heart and made you look at the world in a different degree. And when he said 'sweetness', he didn't mean like the annoying, sickly sugary one that the Hall clan had, but the kind that gives time to register what you say like your words matter to them. And with guilt, he had to confess that the time they had at the beach last night was fun. He never knew sand ball fights could be so fun.

"Oooh, RJ! Look at this dress!" Dementia was heard, but not seen, talking to RJ, thanks to all the clothing rows hiding them.

"And there goes my credit card," Martin groaned.

"Demi, it's awfully pretty, but it's too expensive!" RJ's voice was heard protesting.

"But it looks so nice with that nautilus hairclip of yours!" Dementia was insisting. "By the way, where did you purchase it?"

"Oh... Martin kind of gave it to me."

Martin hunched in embarrassment, his fingers tapping nervously. "You really keep things professional by giving out jewelry, uh, Herr Fiske?" Dementor winked at Martin. The latter mouthed him to knock it off.

"The monkey boy...giving out jewelry?" Martin guessed that Dementia was arching her two eyebrows in disbelief based on the way she spoke. "I must have stepped into a parallel universe. I can't help put feel pity. How do you manage to keep up with him?"

"Keep up with who?"

"Herr Fiske. You do realize that he's known for being as stiff as a statue on the inside, right?"

Martin was shocked. This was coming from the girl who insisted on him exploring his feelings?

"OK, so he is a snob that doesn't have at least one nice thing to say to anybody I know, but he can be... rather sensitive when the insecurities are exposed, so that's a redeeming trait."

Now Martin was confused. Sensitive? Exposed securities? "Aw, she knows you're a softie!" Dementor jokingly poked Martin before the monkey hand swiped it away. The young man did want to hear the further details.

"I mean, he does get angry pretty easily, which I find amusing when I snark at him." RJ was heard snickering and Martin was rolling his eyes.

"And the baboon limbs?"

"What about them?"

"Well aside from the Fiske being respectable villains, none have been taken seriously when it came to the monkey obsession or the men's simian limbs. You're not even one bit disturbed by the monkey hands and feet?"

Now Martin wished the air conditioning in the store were colder. He could feel his simian limbs sweating under the gloves and shoes that hid them.

"Honestly, I've been too busy with the snob's twisted personality to even fuss over them... though I still think he should go with sandals and fingerless gloves rather than add further blisters. Besides, after all the weird stuff I've seen in the last two weeks, I think the monkey limbs are at the bottom of the list."

"Really? Then what's at the top?"

"I don't know. I'm still hesitating between Mr. Barkin substituting every single Y.E.A.R.N faculty member because of some freak accident caused by Edina Lipsky or seeing a purple poodle with pink skin rip of a guy's pants to reveal he still wears trousers of a boys band that died a good decade or two ago."

Dementia was heard speaking in deadpan. "Evidently you and I both don't have the same definition of weird."

For that one, the two men snickered until they had to regain their composure when the girls came back. "Find anything?" Dementor asked his daughter.

"You'd be surprised." Dementia held up a black leather trench coat covered with the white printed words CRUAUTÉ BEAUTÉ, literally meaning 'Evil Beauty' in French. "They sold this thing for 73 dollars at Club Banana back in the Minalshari, you tell me we'll find you a better one in France, and when I _do_ find it in France, the euro equivalent turns it into 205! _205 dollars_!"

Martin shook his head while Dementor tried to soothe down Dementia. He turned his head to see RJ hiding clothing behind her back. "You think I could just steal it?" She asked sheepishly.

He shook his head again, this time because he was amused. "RJ, stealing is when you break into a secret facility and take something for power, which in my case would be taking an idol from a museum." He pointed at the clothing she was hiding. " _That_ is not stealing, that's shoplifting. And I don't do shoplifting."

"You also don't do high prices," RJ pointed out.

Martin was tempted to ask her what her point was until he found it himself. When he had stumbled upon her by accident in the dressing cabinet of Très Chez Léon, Martin had been trying to hide from Amelia Hall and had promised Camillo Léon to buy anything pricey from his store in exchange for a hiding spot. Camillo had suggested Martin to pay for the colored plum gown RJ had tried on, and Martin would have nearly agreed to pay for it after seeing the nymph of a vixen walk in it until the blonde shapeshifter told him the gown's expensive price in pounds. Cue to multiple arguing that led to his first time being called a 'British aristocratic snob'.

 _Not pursue, not woo, but befriend her_ , Hoodie's voice echoed in his head like in a pagan ritual.

"Is it... a dress you like?" He asked as stiffly as he could. _Hopefully it's not revolting._

RJ pulled out the hidden clothing, a silver colored turtleneck dress, made of clean wool, and fashioned with long sleeves and a flowy end that reached the knees. To add further fashionable observation, it had white outlines of lotus flowers that started small at the end of the skirt and bloomed to a larger size on the left shoulder.

"Too showy?" RJ asked nervously, making it clear that she did want the dress but wanted to avoid financial-based arguments.

Martin bit his lip and struggled to find the right words: "No, it's ...fair and ...good for formal events when it gets cold out." He did not have to turn and scowl at the Dementors for snickering. But what on earth was he supposed to do? Crack and admit that he didn't think the dress was fair but lovely? Confess that it wasn't god for formal events in winter, but perfect for her, the tantalizing angel?

He really needed to get the hell out of Cannes.

 _Later, back at the Mediterranean Sunrise_

Martin had to prepare for an upcoming call from his mother anytime now, probably demanding him why he was shopping in the Galeries Lafayette. He had finally surrendered and gone ahead to purchase the dress for RJ.

"So when are you two planning to head to the French Alps?" Dementor asked while he had his goons carry all of the girls' new stuff while they headed back to the hotel.

"Maybe tomorrow morning or after dinner," Martin said while shielding his eyes from the sun. "I could really use for a cup of tea back in my comfy castle..."

"Aw, the Royal Snob misses his little kingdom." RJ joked. He wrinkled his nose at her.

"Never hesitate to hike all the way to the Bavarian Alps and meet us for a night of cards at our lair," Dementia said. "Honestly, I could use another girl to play poker and ignore my dad bickering with my uncle Myron."

"He keeps calling me BIL!" Dementor protested.

"Yeah, can you imagine if he called you by your first name?" Dementia snarked.

"Have you ever met 'Uncle Myron'?" RJ asked Martin.

"There are things in life I avoid discussing..." He rolled his eyes until he perked up. "Hang on. Why is it that two of the rich European villain clans have appeared and not..."

The Dementors gasped in unison.

"Hello, my good fellows!"

" _Señor Senior Senior_ ," the three European villains put a forceful smile on each face and gave weak hand waves at an elderly man approaching them. He had all the white hair one elderly person could get, but he still managed to look incredibly healthy for someone close to his late eighties or early nineties.

"Oh, I remember you from the potluck at Dr. Drakken and Shego's!" RJ snapped her fingers.

"Yes, and you're RJ from the rally. So nice to see you again!" Señor Senior shook hands with RJ.

"Wait, you've already met?" Dementor pointed fingers between the two.

"Well we haven't personally met, but I remember him attending with his son at the potluck. By the way, how's he doing ever since Melgo's poodle ripped his pants?"

"Oh, Junior's fine. This isn't the first time Admiral Splashy eats his clothing."

"I'm surprised he hasn't eaten Junior yet," Dementia whispered to Martin.

"It is quite surprising to run into you in France," Señor Senior continued to speak with RJ. "Are you taking a vacation from HenchCo?"

"No, I actually got an apprenticeship after a promising new boss approached me back at the potluck," RJ said smoothly. "It took me a while to decide, but the contract was then signed just a few days ago."

Martin's jaw drop. That girl could easily lie faster than she could breathe!

"Well, I must say that you made a wise choice being an apprentice for Professor Dementor," Señor Senior complimented. "He and his daughter make the finest machinery and recruit only the best henchmen."

"We thank you for the compliments, but Herr Fiske here is the one who took her in, not us." Dementia pointed at Martin right when he pretended to dust off his shirt. He raised his eyes in time to see the elderly man look in disbelief as if he had been told that a clown circus became a multi-billionaire.

"Pequeño Fiske, hiring an apprentice? You realize that it's as impossible as me trying to convince my son to divorce?" He asked.

RJ frowned. "Why would you want your son to divorce?"

She got her response when she heard and saw a forty-year old woman bickering at her son to hurry out of the limousine and demanding her husband, whom RJ recognized as Señor Senior Junior under all the luggage he carried in his bulky arms, if he made sure he had her purse full of sunscreen.

"That's a disturbing relationship," RJ said.

The old man sighed in agreement. "My son and my daughter-in-law, Bonnie Rockwaller, accompanied by my grandson, Señor Senior Three."

"Great," Dementor grumbled. "We're stuck all together for dinner!"

Martin tapped Señor Senior on the shoulder and suggested: "Is it too late to disown them?"

 _Later, at the Koi Tsunami_

There was only one reason that Martin would use as an excuse to avoid any European villains' gathering: Junior's wife's rambling. The barely middle-aged bat wouldn't stop talking throughout the entire dinner about her high school life drama and how Kim Possible and the loser Ron Stoppable, always having their ways in popularity and embarrassing her. Only Junior and Number Three seemed to take pity on her and enjoy her stories, while everyone wasn't. Señor Senior kept rubbing his forehead, Dementia looked awfully bored, and Martin and Professor Dementor looked desperate enough to be begging for a lobotomy or even be locked up in an asylum. The horrors of having to listen to someone who went to high school with Team Possible was worse than listening to someone about someone complaining about getting his schemes foiled by Team Possible.

RJ didn't even bother to listen. Normally she would have to listen on what people's life in high school were since she never went to high school, but listening to the perspective of a former cheerleader wasn't worth it. The red koi fish from the restaurant's aquarium looked far more fun.

"I mean, who cares if she saved the world? Social status matters, people!" Bonnie waved her hand in the air.

"Hooray." Dementia crossed her arms and slouched on her chair, looking as bored as ever.

"Weirdly enough, I miss those days." Bonnie admitted. "What's the point of having everything if Miss Priss isn't around for you to humiliate?"

"You could always knock on her door or give her a call," Martin suggested dully. "Why not tell her you used to be school rivals and let's go back to being enemies? Is that _so_ hard?"

"Well I'm sure that's something to consider..." Señor Senior said as softly as he could. Naturally, Bonnie brought her pettiness to RJ. The girl turned just in time to see the woman frowning at her.

"What? Does my furisode have a stain?" She asked sharply.

"As grotesque as that rag of yours is, I can't help but have a déjà vu feeling. Do I know you from somewhere?" The woman asked so harshly.

RJ didn't react. So far this was the second person she met in her new life who had been rather nasty to her upon first meeting, but while the snob did it primarily because RJ annoyed him first, Bonnie Rockwaller just looked down on her as if every single existing teenage girl was beneath her. RJ briefly looked at Martin, who was sitting next to her. Even with his mouth shut, his jawline gave away the fact that his teeth were clenched, but for which reason RJ was uncertain. Either he was ticked that the lady insulted the kimono he probably spent many dollars to pay for or he was just annoyed by Bonnie Rockwaller to the point of turning his head into a Bueno Nacho hat.

"We've never met unless you go shopping at the Minalshari Mall." The ginger blonde simply shrugged.

"I don't go to that underground landfill."

RJ's hands were hidden under the tablecloth, preventing anyone from seeing the stiff-acting girl actually clutching her fists. She did have to release her fists in order to accept the teakettle that was being passed around. RJ poured herself some tea right when Ms. Rockwaller continued. "I mean, the whole city is a dump, the mall is a mess if you exclude Très Chez Léon, and don't get me started with today's teenagers who go there! _Especially_ those freaks Buffy and Melgo that I met once when I took Number Three. Kilt rags and blue skin were last year."

BANG!

RJ slammed the teakettle onto the table, getting the attention of everyone. But the main reason they got their eyesight turned was when they saw the tea erupting out of the teakettle like a geyser of liquid blue monkeys that torched Bonnie Rockwaller. The woman yelled when the hot water exploded onto her expensive blue dress and slightly burned her skin.

"My bad, we ran out of tea." The ginger blonde threw the teakettle onto the floor and pushed her way out of the _Koi Tsunami_ , leaving everyone bewildered.

 _Hours later_

RJ said nothing to each other during the car. After the restaurant incident, Martin had decided it was best that he and RJ just left right away. The rest of the Seniors weren't going to be as forgiving as the patriarch. For the next two to four hours until they reached the French Alps, not a single word came out of their mouths. One was too busy dealing with the driving while the other just kept her arms crossed and pouted at the passing landscape of snowy mountains and little village going to sleep.

"I'm guessing you'll be forbidden from returning to the _Mediterranean Sunrise_ ," RJ said grimly.

Martin just shrugged. "Good thing I don't vacation in Cannes, except for business. We went to get Dementia to analyze the microchip, the rest is insignificant."

"Good," RJ said.

"By the way," he said, "I know Señor Senior's daughter-in-the-law is one of the pettiest people in the villain community, so there's no reason to be glum about your behavior." He gave out a guilty chuckle. "I won't deny. I actually laughed to myself when you used Mystical Monkey Power to hose her burning tea."

His compliment didn't make RJ feel any better. "Why couldn't I just be normal like everyone else?"

"Whatever makes you say that?"

"For crying out loud, I never asked for any of this! The powers, the instant talents, the... everything!"

"RJ, tone down the stress unless you want to blow up the car!" Martin demanded. Luckily, RJ instantly lowered her stress level right when he pulled into some driveway and parked inside a garage. He then noticed RJ's eyes fluttering, unable to keep themselves awake. Her muscles were heaving as if they had been drained. "You need to get some sleep."

"I don't want to." She almost sounded like a whiny child. He rolled his eyes and got out of the car, walking around to open the other side's door.

"Come along, Vixen. You need to rest for tomorrow. I expect you to wake up close to six in the morning, six thirty at the latest." He helped her get out of the car. Turns out she was physically as tired as her eyes: the moment she put her foot out, she tumbled. He quickly caught her and carried her up. Her sight was too drowsy for her to get a better view of her surroundings. All she could feel was the snob carrying her in his arms while walking up a flight of stairs.

"Looks they already set up your room. And the stuff from Melgo has arrived." With quite the balance, he used one of his monkey feet to grab the handle of a door while his arms were busy holding up RJ. After one push, he brought her in.

"I'm not a baby, you can drop me," she tried to complain again.

"Yeah, well the teen baby is going to take wee good sleep because she's starting her training tomorrow with me." He rested her on some kind of soft bed. "And trust me, I am nothing compared to the instructors you've dealt with back in HenchCo."

"Believe me, I can't even tell which one of us is the monster..." And she instantly fell asleep, leaving the question in the air.


	17. First Training Day With Fiske

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 17: First Training Day With Fiske

This would probably be the second time that RJ woke up in a foreign bed and realize that she wasn't dreaming about her new life and was thankfully not back at her grandmother's apartment. The only difference was that the first time, she woke up from an annoying alarm clock and her surroundings completed the confirmation. This time, she could tell because of the bed.

RJ instantly felt the cushy feeling of the mattress and the three layers of thick bed sheets that covered her. When she sat up and waved her hands around the fabric that covered the sheets and pillows, her eyes widened. The fabric was all velvet, the smooth luxurious kind that would cost a fortune. The pillows and the sheet covering her legs first were all white, and the sheet on top of the white one was black with fancy fleur-de-lys patterns, but the final and dominating one was what alarmed her the most. It was red velvet... with patterns of monkey swinging in trees.

"God..." She looked around the bed. A curtain matching the red sheet covered every corner, and judging by the fashion of the bedposts, she had slept in a Victorian bed sheets.

Thus confirming that she was indeed sleeping within the home of the snob.

The sounds of running and bubbling water turning off got her attention. She pushed the curtains and stepped out of the bed just in time to see a door leading to a bathroom opening and a monkey dressed as a ninja stepping out. RJ instantly recognized the species based on what she had seen in old nature documentaries.

"A capuchin monkey dressed in ninja garb... Oddly enough, I find it cute." A small smile came to her face.

"Trust me. It itches on the fur."

RJ's eyes widened. The words had just come out from the mouth moving under the ninja mask. The monkey had talked. "Since when do monkeys talk?" She asked. "You know, outside of TV?"

"Ever since the master concluded that he was tired of being the human translator so he casted a human-speech spell on us," the monkey shrugged. "I can still hoot and screech, but only outside the castle or when we do schemes. Don't be surprised if you hear me and the others doing the monkey talk between each other."

"Uh... OK." _This still doesn't beat the purple poodle in the weird scale_ , RJ thought. She looked at the monkey as it took her hand and gave it a small shake with its small paw.

"I won't lie to you, it's nice to _finally_ have another girl in the castle when Lady Fiske isn't visiting. My name's Cappuccino, the sole female monkey ninja among the four under the employment of the Young Master Fiske, and the only one you get the privilege to have as your handmaid."

"My... handmaid?" RJ frowned as she let go of Cappuccino. She didn't want to get further into questions like why was a female monkey working for a British named after an Italian beverage.

"I clean your clothes, I make your bed, I make sure your room is nice and tidy, and I serve as your 'girl companion' while we struggle with the uncivilized males we live with."

"I heard that, Cap!" Somebody shouted from behind the chamber's main door.

"Vitello, go back to the dishes unless you want me to tell the Young Master Fiske about the pipe incident!" Cappuccino shouted at the door. A brief shrugging cough was heard, followed by the scurrying of feet. The female capuchin sighed in exasperation before pointing at the bathroom. "Your bath and training gear are waiting for you. Young Master Fiske is expecting you downstairs for breakfast before you begin your training."

"I don't suppose you could give me a spoiler about what to expect from my... teacher." RJ gasped when she saw her chamber's annexed bathroom. The one she had back in Y.E.A.R.N made her grandmother's look ancient, but now they looked like cheap junk of poverty against the luxurious Victorian bathroom she now had: polished white tiled floor, marble sink, potted vases full of fresh lilies, and a hot tub and shower resting near a large window giving a massive view of the majestic Alps. Even from the door, she could feel and smell the hot water with lavender-scented soap coming from the tub.

"Best I can tell you is that your days will be rough from Monday to Friday. 12 hours of training per day," Cappuccino shrugged.

RJ turned to face the monkey. " _12 hours_? He expects me to go through half a day of fighting?"

"Hey, he imposes the half a day of fighting on us monkey ninjas, but since you apparently both share Mystical Monkey Power, I can only guess that he'll train you the way he trains _himself._ " The monkey then closed the bathroom door on RJ. "If I were you, I'd start changing."

 _Minutes later_

The bath had done wonders on her skin. Wearing the new gear, on the other hand, was just awkward. RJ had been so used to wearing the skin-tight jumpsuits from HenchCo, she didn't know what to say about the loose black fabric that made most of the ninja garb Cappuccino had given her. The sleeves and ends of the pants were puffed right at the knees and elbows, making her feel a bit of coldness whenever a small breath of wind went into her. The outfit fit well on her shape, just enough to make her average size clear to anyone. Aside from the black clothing, she also had black slippers she had seen karate experts wear on TV. The only thing that did not make her look like a black ninja were the purple collar, belt, arm cuffs, and thigh cuffs she wore. Like reversing the colors of her former Y.E.A.R.N uniform and turning it into its dark counterpart.

Once RJ was set, Cappuccino took her downstairs, causing RJ to be exposed to the castle she was now in. Like her new chamber, the castle was a mix dark bluish grey stone walls and black mahogany foundations. The floors were covered by long British black carpets with red patterns of crossed swords, regal flowers, and obviously monkeys. RJ was quite curious on the amount of monkey themed pictures and statues she saw on the walls or furniture while she followed Cappuccino. Some looked like zodiac depictions or relations to Asian myths, while others looked like modern or classic art forms twisted with a little simian touch. At one point, RJ could have sworn she passed a tiny statue of Rodin's Thinker, only it looked like a monkey was doing the thinking pose.

Aside from the large windows, the only sources of light came from the candelabras hanging on the walls, giving dim, torching lights in the fascinatingly austere domain the new arrival was now in.

"Was the castle always this dark or did the... I mean, did your master turn it this way?" RJ asked as they went down the main stairs.

"The monkey decorations are the only things the current Fiskes did to the place. Otherwise, the palace was supposedly always this dark," Cappuccino said.

"Supposedly?" RJ was confused.

"Both estates owned by the Fiskes have been built during the dark end of the Middle Ages by people with dark tastes. As time went, the castles went through changes. The one we are in came from Young Master Fiske's late paternal grandmother while the one in England came from the grandfather. Since Lord Monkey Fist preferred being in the paternal castle that he mainly inherited, he let his son install himself in this one," the monkey explained.

"So your master has his own castle... and he still lives with his parents?" RJ frowned.

Cappuccino snorted. "You sound like his mother."

Before RJ could ask what the latter meant, Cappuccino stood on her tiptoes to reach for the golden doorknob of the first dark door they met at the end of the staircase. She opened it and led the girl inside yet another room. Just like the rest of the castle, it had the walls of stone and the Victorian era appeal, only this time the floors were wooden and covered by a square carpet, a stone fireplace was in life with a fire, red curtains were half open to let the lights from the windows come in, and the wall candelabras were replaced by a chandelier. Aside from the basic red-and-black monkey themed tapestries, the only other main decorations in the room were a red cabinet holding crystal diverse chalices and a portrait of three people hanging above the fireplace.

The main attraction, though, was the large table fit to sit six or eight people that stood in the heart of the room. Both ends of the table had been set up with the essentials of table setting while the rest of the table was occupied by silver dishes holding steaming soup, fresh bread and peanut butter, diced fruits, British pound cake, and a tea kettle. RJ saw that the table's end closest to her was empty, whereas the other end, the one with the windows in the background, was occupied by yours truly dressed in his normal martial arts clothing and already sipping in his cup of tea.

"You're dismissed, Cappuccino," he said without separating himself from his teacup.

"Yes, Young Master Fiske." Cappuccino bowed to her master and gave RJ a quick look saying good luck before knuckle-walking her way out, closing the door behind her and leaving RJ with the snob.

With bad timing, her stomach growled. She cautiously clutched it in disapproval.

"I wouldn't start the day on an empty stomach if I were you," the snob said while putting down his cup of tea on the table.

"Good thing you aren't me," RJ said. After a few seconds of hesitation, she decided to sit down on the chair that awaited her. Another monkey ninja popped out of nowhere and presented the soup dish to his master, instantly pouring some in a bowl. "Cucumber soup?" It then asked RJ when it came to her side.

"Yes please." The green fluids went right into her bowl, prompting her to lick the corner of her lips due to the delicious odor she now smelled. During the next minutes, the monkey ninja went around serving the food as if it were a one-monkey relay race. Then again, he served most of the food to RJ. The snob seemed more contend with primarily feasting on soup, tea, and a slice or two of bread.

"So... any spoilers on what I should expect from your teaching... other than it being twelve hours long?" RJ dared to cut the silence.

He looked up at her with his shadowy grey eyes. "Twelve hours is only the maximum for one day depending on how fast you learn within the sections."

"The sections?"

"Physical, spiritual, and mystical, or the PSM, if you prefer to refer it as such. From what I know, you primarily use brute force without even considering the effects the power has on you. I'll also guess that you've never meditated before."

"Just once." _Before the first heist_ , RJ thought miserably. "So the first two sections would teach me in physically and mentally controlling the power, I get that. I just don't get the mystical part."

"Mystical Monkey Power is after all a _magical_ source of energy," he explained. "My mere concern on that section is how it applies on you."

"You're not going to have her practice on one of your mother's Monkey Witchcraft spells!" The monkey exclaimed in horror. "You'd just be adding more fuel to that nuclear bomb!"

"Gee, thanks." RJ scowled at the monkey. "By the way, who are you?"

"Tartufo, miss. I'm a golden lion tamarin, the castle's main cook, and the paranoid one among the monkey ninjas."

"Tartufo, unless you want me to start breaking dishes, I highly recommend that you start clearing and cleaning them!" His master snapped. The monkey shuddered and instantly stacked up the empty dishes, making his way out. Martin rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "I apologize for the scenario..."

"Cappuccino, Vitello, Tartufo... You really have a thing for Italian cuisine for someone who's British." She shook her head and went back to the topic. "But how on earth are your monkey magic tricks going to help me deal with mine?"

"All in good time." He finished the remains of his tea. "Four hours on physical, four hours on spiritual, and four hours on mystical. 20 minute breaks at half time for each section, lunch and tea break, and training overall should be done by dinnertime. There are of course the occasional outings..."

"Outings?"

He rolled his eyes. "This isn't a prison, RJ. Your power is mainly unstable due to its lack of exposure to the world, therefore during the free time, there will be opportunities to go outside. There's even an Alpine village that's a good ten minutes walk from my castle."

RJ nodded in understanding. "So, when do we start?"

 _ **SECTION 1: PHYSICAL TRAINING FROM 7AM TO 11AM**_

The chalice cabinet could be turned over like a door and make way for a staircase that led straight into a hidden dojo. Unlike the rest of the castle (or what RJ had mostly seen so far), the walls were made of blood red stones, the wooden floor was painted yellow, and the only pieces of furniture were a black Asian folding screen and a large carpet with a giant black monkey swinging his arms around.

"Just so I know in case I get lost, how many secret tunnels do you have?" RJ asked.

"50," Martin said. The moment he stepped into the heart of the dojo, a large smile appeared on his face and he cracked his knuckles. The cracking noise was twice as loud as those a normal human would make. "Welcome to Tai Shing Pek Kwar 101, or as I like to call it, _World Of Pain!_ "

RJ looked around the dojo. "I don't see any... GAAH!"

A horizontal pillar of red sprung out from one of the walls and smashed her into the opposite wall before returning to its original spot. RJ groaned in pain as she dropped back on the floor. "OK... I see the pain part."

"Yes, I tricked out the dojo with Monkey Witchcraft. Makes you feel like your dodging the booby traps of a Congo Monkey Temple." Martin smirked.

RJ scowled in disbelief as she got up. "You expect me to dodge incoming pillars for four hours straight?"

"Nope." He clapped his hands. All of a sudden, pillars of stone starting hammering their way from every four directions. RJ didn't have enough time to scream. Now she was too busy running around the dojo in order to avoid turning into purée. At one point, she looked up and saw Martin slouching on one of the wooden beams. "I expect you to dodge incoming pillars for four hours straight unless you can reach the beam where I'm sitting!" He shouted down at her.

"You're evil!" RJ avoided a pillar that nearly hit her in the ribs.

The snob said nothing and merely sat there, watching her run away from stone pillars threatening to crush her.

She had no idea on her head. This was nothing like what she had learned in Y.E.A.R.N.

It then hit her. Why should this training be any different from what she learned at HenchCo? She learned how to ditch security protocols, and the snob's dojo was tricked out for ditching temple booby traps. If she could learn how to dodge laser beams to hit the jackpot, she could apply the same thing for the pillars. She took the opportunity to examine the pillars' movement during her escapes, and from what she had managed to conclude, the vertical pillars only sprung out as soon as the horizontal ones started to come back in. If she timed it right...

She ran towards the center of the dojo and stopped the moment the horizontal pillars came out. Once they left and the vertical pillars came, she proceeded to run and jump one surface after the other until she made the jump that led her to clutch on one of the ceiling beams. She looked down in time to see all the pillars disappear, leaving the dojo to look back in normal shape.

"What a relief," RJ sighed. Four beams away, the snob had just pulled out a sudoku magazine. "I assume that you now expect me to use the beams as monkey bars to reach you?"

"Depends if you can handle the grease."

RJ then realized that the wood her hands were clutching on were flooded by melted butter, causing her to fall back into the dojo's floor to have a reunion with the pillars.

"AW, C'MON!" She shouted.

 _9am break_

When Tartufo came over with a tray of Earl Grey and a fruit smoothie, RJ looked completely messed up. Bruises all over her pale skin, horribly wrinkled clothes, and messed up hair.

"Wow, she looks terrible!" The monkey ninja said rather bluntly.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," RJ grumbled through her sore teeth. She accepted the smoothie and wished that her skin's numbness wouldn't prevent her from feeling a brain freeze. Meanwhile, the snob was snickering as he drank his tea.

"So, what have we learned?" He asked.

"That you're a sadist and any military school would be better off without you?" She scowled.

"I'll take that as a compliment. But no, aside from that, you've learned lesson 1. Unpredictability."

If she wasn't enjoying her smoothie as it was cooling down her mouth, RJ would have thrown it at his face. "I have the most unpredictable energy in the planet and you want me to be unpredictable?"

"Yes." How was it possible that this guy was so blunt? "Let me ask you something: on a scale from one to ten, how many times do you assume that an opponent would mostly just try running at you to punch you in the face or shoot you through the chest?"

RJ didn't have to think. "I'm guessing nine?"

"Quite right." Once he finished his tea, he tossed the cup onto the wall, startling RJ as she saw the pieces of china fall into the floor only to regenerate back into one cup, courtesy of glowing red monkeys. "Normal human behaviors would have made you expect me to simply put down the teacup once I was done rather than crash and fix it out of pure amusement. The adversary can only expect what he's already familiar with, therefore the way to confiscate that advantage is to attack with the unexpected."

"Is that why you put in the melted butter and the fire blasts?" RJ referred to two of the five obstacles she had suffered. Never ask her what they were about. "As I learned to cross them, you'd just throw me a new one to unstabilize me and force me to start all over again?"  
"Look who learned her first lesson." Martin applauded. Once they were done with the break, she followed him back to the dojo's center, this time keeping an eye out for any possible popping obstacle. "Now that you've learned unpredictability, it's time you learn how to apply it in battle."

He instantly turned to throw his fist at her. RJ took no hesitation to block it with her right hand and used her left hand to catch his other wrist before it could aim for her stomach. This did nothing, and she learned that the hard when his right monkey foot grabbed her ankle and swung her across the dojo.

"Is that the best you can do?" He taunted.

Man did he irritate her! RJ scolded herself to not lose her temper and wreck the place into pieces courtesy of her power. To be unpredictable, how could she do that? This would be impossible for any normal person to figure it out, but for her, it only took a minute.

Martin snorted when he saw her running at him like a bull, her fists up at him. "Getting rusted already?" He joked as he took no hesitation to clutch them.

RJ grinned. "Nope."

Then it came. The big kick. No words could describe how Martin's face looked like after he bit his lip to avoid unleashing a scream. His hands let go of RJ's in order to cover the area she had hit. RJ laughed when she saw him drop on the floor, doing his best to not scream at all.

"I'm guessing lesson number two is that I should kick you in the crotch more often when you ask me to be unpredictable," she said. She sat down on his stomach, pinning his arms as if he were a living couch.

"There are areas I can't feel anymore..." He whimpered before finally screaming. " **WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, WOMAN?** "

"What? We're you expecting me to kiss you to knock you off your guard?" She pouted in mockery.

He blushed in humiliation. "GET OFF ME!"

 _ **SECTION 2: SPIRITUAL TRAINING FROM 11AM TO 3PM**_

The garden where Martin took RJ for the spiritual training was so far her favorite part of the castle. Located right behind and protected with some kind of spell that shielded it from the general 50 degrees of the mountains, yet could still open up to the local wildlife, it had half the width of the castle. All in one giant green circle outlined by willow trees, grey tiles had been used to make a pathway shaped like dojo's monkey symbol. Any area unoccupied by a grey pathway was either a koi pond or a patch of grass growing bamboo, lotus flowers, and chrysanthemums. Compared to the indoor garden back in Melgo's apartment, this outdoor one looked far more serene.

"Aside from being the rarest power on the planet, Mystical Monkey Power requires a lot of patience, acceptance, and focus," Martin said. As he and RJ sat down on the stone platform, he pulled out a wooden case that he brought along. "With you, the power reacts a lot more when you get into conflicts, and from what Melgo briefed me on, you can also lose it when you get emotional bugged."

"Emotional... Oh." RJ remembered when Melgo tried to get her to use Mystical Monkey Power during their training on the Great Canyon by reminding of her hatred of the 'silly girl from the apartment'. She shook her head. The ridiculous, lonely girl that was Ronilda was going to stay where she belonged. And right now, she didn't belong with RJ.

Martin propped the case open, revealing well-stacked brushes, containers of gray ink, and yellowish papers free of any papers. It was hard to say it, but it was like the snob was actually holding a Chinese drawing kit.

"Calligraphy?" She asked.

"And ink painting." The snob flicked one of the brushed through his fingers. "When you have patience and perspective on the world with a great deal of time, Mystical Monkey Power gradually adapts until it understands how you see what surrounds you." He then pointed the brush at RJ, making her sweat as she felt the brush pointing at the area between her eyes. "But with you, lack of exposure to _anything_ forced the power to see everything as a potential danger and therefore it does the deciding for you."

RJ blinked. She grabbed the brush before somebody lost an eyeball. "So for the next four hours, you want me to draw in order to keep my focus and perspective in check?"

"No, you'll be doing something easier." He pulled out a pamphlet from underneath the stack of papers. Once unfolded, it revealed it to be an English-Chinese character for numbers from 1 to ten. "Simple calligraphy. I expect you to flawlessly paint the characters from numbers 1 to 10..."

RJ shrugged. "Should be easy."

" _Without_ any accidental drops," Martin added. "Any messy paper, and you restart the order from the top."

RJ sighed. This was really going to be a long day.

 _12:15pm lunch break_

OK, so it wasn't going to be a long day. Unlike the stone pillars, painting with brushes didn't give RJ that much trouble. It only took a dozen messy or stained papers until she finally came with a paper with clear characters.

"So how did I do?" She asked Martin while he gave her paper only a couple glances.

"Clean, but you could do better with that black-and-white morality of yours." He shrugged.

Tartufo came in with bowls of oyako don and chopsticks, but the moment he saw RJ's cheeks reddening in frustration, he quickly put down the food onto the stone pavement and ran away as fast as he could. RJ restrained herself from screaming.

"How on earth do I have the morality?" She demanded. "I busted myself..." Martin stopped her by holding up her paper and next to it, a copy of the characters. Except the copy was Martin's and his writing looked flawlessly like the characters you'd expect in a Chinese painting, unlike the straight, unscathed bricks that composed RJ's. "Yours looks like it could breathe."

Martin nodded. "Unlike you, I have a completely grey morality. I see things as they are, but you see things too formally. Let's suppose I had a weak puppy here and I decided to shoot it with a rifle..."

"You'd kill a puppy?" RJ exclaimed in horror.

"If it was necessary. You'd think that killing the puppy would make me cruel, but suppose that the puppy was a runt, ill and incapable of bearing much longer. Shooting it on the spot would be far more merciful than having a lab doctor inject it with some sort of death serum, doesn't it?"

RJ physically shook. "Couldn't you just have let it die on it's own?" She asked, her voice breaking.

Martin said nothing. He placed a thumb under RJ's chin, making it lift up so that her eyes could stare at his from the same level. "Another thing I learned of your perspective, RJ, is that you can't kill," he said quietly. "You just don't have the heart."

The girl sniffed. "What about what I did last week?"

Martin shook his head. "You were an emotionless zombie when it happened, but before and after that, you could never kill anyone."

"I don't have it in me?"

"No. You value life."

RJ rubbed her eye the moment she felt it getting watery. "What if it were a weak human instead of a puppy?"

"You'd have to be zombie you, because I can't see you killing a human _willingly._ "

"Unlike you?" She saw him clutch his bowl of oyako don very tightly. One more snap and the rice and tofu would have dirtied the pavement.

"Yes. _Very_ unlike me."

 _ **SECTION 3: MYSTICAL TRAINING FROM 3PM TO 7PM**_

They remained in the garden even after the multiple calligraphy. At least it would be a break from writing the numbers through fifty in characters.

The two of them both stood on separate pathways, each bordered by a koi pond.

"Mystical Monkey Power is the essential root of my maternal family's Monkey Witchcraft, therefore its magical basics should work on you." Martin held out his arms. "The _elemental_ basis!"

"You mean the classic four elements?" RJ asked. "Isn't that a bit clichéd?"

He frowned in distaste. "More of a _classic_." He posed himself up and put his fingers together to form a circle in his hands. He shut his eyes and inhaled. As if it were following the pattern of his breath, a strand of water inhaled and exhaled its way out of the koi pond until it went into Martin's hands, filling up the circle shape. RJ gawked as he turned the water red, making monkeyish waves.

"Hands like this and visualize the water coming to you," he said.

She nodded and imitated her pose. Her fingers connected and immobilized like iron while she tried to picture water slithering towards her. After waiting and doing her best to focus, a small snake of water emerged and slowly slithered. RJ's eyes stayed on her hands, mentally ordering the water to come to her. Meanwhile, Martin silently nodded as he watched RJ summoning the element. So far, so good...

 _Fail._

RJ blinked. The water seemed to react as well. Where did that voice come from? She shook her head. _Focus,_ she thought. The water came close to her feet.

 _Fail._ The voice repeated. Her hands began to quiver and the water shook. RJ tried to stand firm.

 _You are a failure._ Now the voice was getting annoying. RJ tried to block it out of her head.

 _You can't do anything right. You will always be a monster, Ronilda._

RJ screamed in horror. The water reacted by turning to solid spikes, making any hedgehog jealous of the ice sculptor. RJ then fell on her knees, clutching her head and sweating.

"RJ!" Martin rushed to her and made her lift her head up. Her eyes looked at him in bloodshot, like she had been deprived of any sleep. "What happened?"

"V... V... Voice..." She whimpered in fright. "Called me... failure... Knows... me." She dropped down and cried.

Worried by her reaction, Martin picked her up and brought her back to the castle. It looked like spiritual training had been cut short by an hour.

 _45 minutes later_

RJ fluttered her eyes open and sighed. Never did she think that waking up in her bed at the castle would relieve her.

"Feeling better?"

She turned. The canopy bed curtains had been pushed aside to give light on her bed. An armchair had been pulled close to the bed and the snob was sitting on it. He closed the book he was reading as she sat up on the bed. "What happened to you?"

"I... I heard a voice goading me out of my focus." RJ rubbed at her forehead. "It didn't... It didn't sound at all like the voice I usually hear coming from the power. This one sounded more male and... it's like it knew me."

"How so?"

"It called me a failure and knew my name."

Martin's eyes narrowed. "The failure part was a bit unnecessary."

"Hello, I've been failing at your teaching all day!" RJ crossed her arms.

"Nobody's perfect at their first time doing the Fiske way of training. I suffered, my father suffered, and my mother went through Hell. I did warn you that your training with me wouldn't be easy."

RJ sighed.

"Besides, I personally thought that you've had some successes in your lessons."

RJ hid her blush.

The door bursted open and Cappuccino came in pushing a cart with another monkey ninja. "Make way! Coming through!" The latter shouted. "Emergency cheer-up cart coming right through!"

RJ frowned at the monkey who just spoke. It wasn't that he was a spider monkey, making him a walking shadow compared to Tartufo and Cappuccino, but for some reason he had a Brazilian accent that made his outgoing speech far less reserved than his fellow simians.

"OK, we shall go through everything to cheer up the young lady." The spider monkey went through the objects on the cart once it was brought close enough to separate the armchair from the bed. "Hot cocoa with many sprinkles of peppermint and whipped cream, homemade banana chocolate chip cookies, bouquet of chrysanthemums to brighten your room, a pack of cards in case you ever want to join one of our friendly go-fish games, and the best part..." He stuffed a large pile of magazines right onto RJ's life, making her groan. Did it have to weigh like twenty bricks?

"All the current magazines that any teenager could dream off from sport models to the girly matchmaker quizzes!" He didn't have to take off his mask; anyone could tell that he was smiling.

RJ looked at him in blank confusion before giving a 'Who is he' look at Martin and Cappuccino, who looked very exasperated.

"Semifreddo, RJ," Cappuccino did the introductions. "RJ, Semifreddo."

"The local monkey ninja clown," Martin added.

"I prefer to be known as your local cheerful stress ball." Semifreddo raised his finger.

"Let me get this straight," RJ said. "We have Cappuccino the Chick, Tartufo the Supreme Chef, Semifreddo the Pep Rally Goofball, and what's Vitello?"

"The Gossiping Cross-dresser," Cappuccino said.

RJ stared at Martin. "Do I want to know?" she asked.

"Big no." He shook his head before turning it to scowl at Semifreddo. "Shouldn't you be dusting the chimney?"

"No can do, Vitello is doing it this week. He lost our bet last week so he has to do my chores along with his for half a month," Semifreddo said smugly.

Martin groaned and rubbed his temples in frustration. "Unless you want to dust and clean my library shelves with a toothbrush..." He lifted his head when they all heard the door banging. Semifreddo was no longer in the chamber.

"Well he didn't wait long." RJ got off the bed and lifted the magazines away to a corner.

"Cappuccino, when were you planning on telling me that Vitello and Semifreddo were going against the chores that _I_ assigned them?" Martin scowled at Cappuccino.

"Sorry, my job ain't to tattletale. That job belongs to Vitello. In case you forgot, my main job is to clean the laundry here." Cappuccino pulled out a pile of clean and a plush toy that instantly made Martin scream and jump off his seat.

"CAPPUCCINO! Why on earth do you have one of the plush monstrosities that the Hall clan worship?" He demanded.

RJ cleared her throat. "That would be _my_ plush monstrosity called Pandaroo London Edition." She walked over and took the toy in her arms, placing it right on her pillow. "Thanks for cleaning it, Cappuccino." Behind her back, Martin gagged.

"No prob. By the way, Tartufo and I made sure to unpack everything for you while Vitello and Semifreddo were busy playing cards. These two get very nosy. That's why I put a lock on the nightstand. They won't be able to peak at your scrapbook." She threw a key at RJ, who caught it in her hands.

Martin crossed his arms and grunted. "I can't believe you're into _Cuddle Buddies_." He hissed those last two words out as if he were talking about the plague.

"Hey, it's only one and Amelia just gave me hers because I forgot mine back at my grandma's house!" RJ pointed out.

"Oh, that's right. It was Amelia's way of saying thanks for giving her the microchip _that she put on my neck!_ "

"To be fair, Young Master Fiske, RJ has the right to be a fan of Cuddle Buddies the same way you are a fan of boy bands." Martin gulped and acted like he turned to stone thanks to Cappuccino's comment while RJ just contended with concealing a giggle quite badly. "Well, I'll leave you at your snacks. Oh by the way, do you know yet when you plan to leave for dinner?"

"Dinner?" RJ asked.

"I did mention we'd be going for outings at the Alpine village," Martin said before responding to Cappuccino: "Around six thirty."

"Great. You kids better change before then."

"What are you, my mother or my servant?" Her master scowled.

"No, I'm the monkey who has to do all the laundry in here and most of it comes from the biped who insists on having his clothes clean." Cappuccino bowed and walked her way out of the chamber.

"Hmm. I really like her," RJ said.

All the snob could do was sigh in exasperation.


	18. The Town Of Hail Feet

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 18: The Town Of Hail Feet

 _Meanwhile, in the unknown area_

Only the serving figure's metallic claws tapped on the keyboard in the empty research facility of the mysterious location. The day workers had retired for the night while the evening ones either guarded the perimeter or continued doing the insane job of the master figure.

The serving figure hit the 'enter' button of the computer, bringing up footage of Earth events that had occurred at most thirty years ago and comparing them to current ones. The old footage mainly showed the major accomplishments of Team Possible: the Bebes' attack, the Lil' Diablo global sensation, the Yamanouchi Clan, and everything up to the alien invasion where Ron Stoppable used Mystical Monkey Power to take Warmonga and Warhok down to their ends. The figure rubbed her chin as she went on to observe the events related to Ronilda Stoppable.

" _May I know exactly what you are doing_?" She heard the master figure come in through the automatic doors.

"Studying on the game my squad and I have to collect," the serving figure said.

" _Really?_ _Do you mean like developing a strategy on how you will bring Ronilda Stoppable to me_?" The master figure was now intrigued.

"In a way." The serving figure used her fingers to drag the footage of the potluck and _Koi Tsunami_ to the center of the screen an enlarged the videos. "One thing that perplexes me is how close Shego and Bonnie Rockwaller were to figuring out who Ronilda Stoppable is. The other villains are completely clueless."

The master figure raised an eyebrow. " _It must be her maternal genetics that drove them into suspicions. Good thing hardly any of the villains remembered Ron Stoppable; that factor must have transmitted into concealing his child._ "

"The Fiskes, the Seniors, and Gill had no problem at remembering Ron Stoppable, yet they and their offspring have no idea that RJ is actually Ronilda Stoppable." The serving figure looked away from the screen to face the master figure. "Speaking of the Fiskes, was it necessary for you to use the transferred DNA of the microchip to mess with Ronilda's training?"

" _Yes._ "

"Is it because you don't want her to gain control and she could destroy you?"

" _Yes, but the information you've managed to find me earlier will help me deal with that_." The master figure gave out a sadistic shrug. " _But aside from that, I'm just giving Ronilda Stoppable a few spoilers that I'm coming for her, and when I do, her life will be destroyed._ "

 _Meanwhile, at the Middleton Motor Lodge_

Things were getting to the desperate line. For two days now, they've searched the Middleton Motor Lodge from rooms to basement, reran the security footage from the last two weeks, and contacted all the patrons who had come during those weeks. The results were empty. No one had seen a ginger blonde girl in the area.

"Are you positive that she hasn't checked in?" Dr. Possible asked the lodge's manager. "No one with the name of Ronilda came here?"

"As unique as that name is, I'm afraid that I have no one among the guest list that matches your granddaughter." The man shook his head as he flipped through the paper records of this year's guests.

"Maybe she didn't have to stay at the lodge." Will Du rubbed his chin. "Remember, Ronilda must have acquired some sort of outdoor correspondent in order to get the escape material and purposely head to Constitution Bridge."

"He might be right," the manager told Dr. Possible. "If your granddaughter wasn't in the lodge, she probably met her contact and he or she drove her off."

Dr. Possible bit her lips in worry. The idea that her unexposed granddaughter could have gone somewhere with a complete stranger terrified her.

Agent Yu came to them concerning his inspection of the security office. "Sir, we discovered something off. All the footage related to the day of Ronilda Stoppable's disappearance was deleted."

"That can't be!" The manager said angrily. He pressed a button and shouted through the speakers. "FRANCES! MY OFFICE, NOW!" Three minutes later, one of the female security camera handlers came in shaking like a leaf. "Frances, you had the guard shift on that night! Explain to me why the footage is gone!"

"I didn't want to, boss, I swear!" Frances cried. "The man held me at gunpoint and told me he'd impale my skull if I didn't delete the footage after his colleague picked up the girl!"

"Was the girl ginger blonde? And using a pillowcase as a bag?" Dr. Possible asked in worry.

"That's the girl from the footage. While I was at gunpoint, he forced me to keep an eye on the cameras until his colleague let the girl inside his black SUV and drove her off. Once they were off the radar, the man with the gun told me to erase the footage." Frances dropped onto her knees and cried.

"Good Lord, Frances, I'm so sorry..." The manager patted her.

"Do you remember what the men looked like?" Will Du asked Frances.

"They were both tall, a bit buff, and they wore the same purple uniform with black straps..."

"No need to go further." Will Du frowned. "I know exactly who Ronilda went with, and I'm afraid that her correspondent wasn't a good one."

Dr. Possible asked.

"Was it the World Empire of Evil?" Agent Yu asked.

"No. HenchCo."

 _Another meanwhile, in the French Alps_

Martin sighed in annoyance while Tartufo straightened the former's red winter trench coat, which he had been doing for at least fifteen minutes until the coat was wrinkle free.

"OK, I cross the line here!" Martin said before Tartufo could dab him with one of his fancy cologne. "I'm just going to dinner, not to one of those Western prom nights!" He grabbed the bottle and dunked it back into his toiletry cabinet.

"Well forgive _me_ , Young Master Fiske, if I'm trying to make a gentleman of your aristocratic stature look presentable while you go off to dinner in the village with that American hoi polloi," Tartufo grumbled.

Martin's eyes blinked as he turned around like a robot to face the golden lion tamarin ninja while it tossed his martial arts uniform into the laundry bag. "I must deaf. Did you just call RJ a 'hoi polloi' or are you just saying it without even knowing the definition?"

"You know what I mean, Young Master Fiske. A peasant, a riffraff... a commoner beneath you."

Martin pointed angry finger at Tartufo. "Mind your tongue. My teacher-student relationship with RJ is purely professional!"

"I should hope so," Tartufo said. "Even if she has Mystical Monkey Power, I fail to see what _you_ see in her."

A red blast got thrown at Tartufo, nearly scalping him. Luckily, he dodged and the wall got a black mark instead. The monkey ninja now looked in fright at his angry master.

"Back to the kitchen!" Martin Fiske yelled angry. His fists toned down the red glows of Monkey Witchcraft he had used to send threatening blasts at his monkey ninja for applying such dialect. The animal nodded and ran away in fright.

 _The nerve of that animal!_ Martin thought mentally. Tartufo insulting the girl in front of his master made the latter feel as angry and offended as he had felt when the annoying Mrs. Señor Senior Junior treated RJ like garbage.

He tensed and stared at his reflection. Come to think of it, why did it bug him on his servant and another villain's wife's negative perspective on RJ? With Rockwaller, it was RJ being ugly and with Tartufo that RJ wasn't of noble title like Martin was. Excuses on why they didn't tease a dating shipping the same way the other European villains did. Martin didn't have their perspective, but now that he thought about them, what did it mean for his part? RJ had her fair shares of beauty, was a commoner with no family she wanted, and Martin surprisingly grew used to being snarked or insulted by her the same way a kid learns to eat and enjoy broccoli, but did that necessarily mean that he _liked_ her? No, it couldn't possibly be...

A knock on the door interrupted him. "I'm coming!" He shouted and made his way to the door. Once it was open, it had Martin face RJ in a woolen winter coat that he instantly recognized as one of the coats his mother had discarded.

"I hope you don't mind, but I had no jacket to deal with the cold outside so Cappuccino raided the basement," she said. "I hope that's OK with you."

He nodded. The two headed downstairs to the front door. "Keep the castle in check while we're gone," he told Vitello, a vervet monkey, who was busy dusting a table full of figurines... while dressed in a French maid outfit.

"Sure thing, Young Master Fiske," Vitello said casually. His master rolled his eyes in exasperation and closed the door behind him.

They took the trail leading down the mountain area where the castle was located. A few times when they started making their way, RJ turned to stare at the tall, dark castle's full exterior as it slowly got away from them before finally settling with the view ahead of them. The Alps were lovely at this time of year. While there were still some piles of snow trying their best to melt, the hills and valleys were of a beautiful bright green that turned into rainbows when the flowers did their blooming. With spring here, shepherds took the opportunity to take their sheep out on a stroll under the sun that still waited to set.

"It's so pretty here..." RJ sighed. "I bet Mount Middleton doesn't have a view like this."

"Mount Middleton?" Martin feigned surprise, for he knew only two things about Mount Middleton. One, DNAmy had one of her labs there, and two, it used to be the home of Team Possible until they vanished.

"Yeah. I used to be able to see it from my grandma's apartment... well, just the tip of it. I couldn't see the rest of it because skyscrapers came in the way."

This made Martin frown. Middleton had the reputation of being the peaceful Colorado town where danger or unsuspected stuff still occurred. Team Possible came and grew up in that town. Drakken used to go to college in the Middleton Institute of Science and Technology. DNAmy had a lab there. Bonnie Rockwaller used to live there ad be a cheerleader until she married into the Seniors' family. Monkey Fist had been arrested there for 'impersonating a mascot'. So many weird things happened in that town, yet it still managed to keep a 'peaceful life appearance' that would drive people off. Martin never went there himself and Lord have mercy on him if he ever does.

So was it a surprise that a girl bearing a rather unstable power was isolated in an apartment located within Middleton? Frankly, not really.

Then again...

"I hope I'm not pushing any limits, RJ, but exactly what kind of career did your grandmother do that could guarantee you support while you were..." He fidgeted his fingers to come up with the right word.

"Isolated?" RJ offered.

"Yes."

"I'd rather not get into details," RJ said unhappily. "All I'll gladly tell you is that she used to be into medicine and that the money she made in the past guaranteed her enough finance to deal with me after she retired."

Martin frowned even more. "That's it?"

"Hey, she told me she used to make 600,000 dollars in one month back at her unnamed hospital. Enough to support whichever one of my parents was her kid..."

"Oh, you must be joking." He rolled his eyes. "She didn't even tell you if she was your maternal or paternal grandmother?"

"Nope."

"What about physical traits?"

"What's your point?" RJ asked crossly without raising her voice. "I hardly know anything about my family. I don't know if I have anyone else biologically related, I don't know what kind of jobs my parents do or did, and I don't know anything else! To be honest, I could care less. All I know is that they left me to spoil my life away indoors without me ever knowing what they wanted to protect me from that would make them clear away from me!"

"So I see." He still didn't see. Did RJ's parents have her grandmother hide her away because of her Mystical Monkey Powers? Did they have enemies?

"And what about you, Snob With All The Questions?" RJ asked. "Aside from your parents, what do _you_ know about your family?"

"My father's parents died when he was a child, leaving him to be raised by Bates the family valet," Martin said bluntly. "My mother had a large family in a mansion until it got burned away by a maniac in a tiger armor. My great-grandfather Sylvester spent the last two years of his life giving her the Simian Witch training that should have taken her six years. He might have pulled the strings of fate so that my mother would end up with my father. My mother loves my father very much, but genetically speaking, I'm the only one she has left in the Simian Witch Clan." He sighed. "Add in the fact that I had to spend seven years of my childhood under the care of six adults while my parents were stuck in Yono City."

He stopped in his tracks to stare at RJ. "Let's face it. We both have parental issues. You never met yours your entire life, and I have to carry the burden of my heritage. Let's just be grateful that we don't have each other's problems."

She nodded. "I'm sorry for being lippy."

"What is there to be lippy about? It was just the honest truth."

"Then let's be honest: I'll stop acting bratty over my family issues and you don't ask me anything personal about my personal life."

"Not even your name?" He asked calmly as they continued walking. The Alpine village came in sight.

"Why do you keep insisting? I don't want to tell you my real name."

"Is it because you don't trust me?" A hurt tone was cautiously hidden in his curious one.

"No, it's not like that!" RJ shook her head. "It's just... I left my name with the apartment I ditched. I purposely renamed myself RJ to mark my new life while my old one stayed where it used to be. After all..." Her voice tuned to self-depreciation. "What if by the time people learned my real name, they didn't take me as seriously as they did when I was RJ? When I became RJ, I felt like I could go for anything anyone threw at me. My old self... couldn't do anything."

"RJ..." Martin felt pity gnawing him. RJ really had no self-confidence. To think that fourteen years of isolation did that to her.

"Please, I don't want to talk about it." She shook her head.

"Fair enough. But know this: I'll wait as long as it takes."

RJ tilted her head. She didn't know how long he meant, but hopefully she'd die early before he ever found out.

They finally arrived at the village. It was quite the lovely place. Close to fifty homes in the style of 19th century houses, cars parked or driving in the stone made streets, distant chalets in the hills, and people going off in their normal activities. As they walked further into the village, RJ's eyes beamed at the marvels. The children playing after school, the merchants selling a few more things before closing their stores for the evening, the church ringing to indicating 6:30pm, and everyone either going back home or hang out... To her, everything in this town was like a new discovery.

"This is so amazing. I'm actually in a village in the mountains. _In France._ " She clapped her hands until she saw the French welcoming sign by the Main Fountain. She looked at Martin. "The town is called Piégrelle. That sounds a lot like French for 'Hail Feet'."

"Yes. Welcome to the Town of Hail Feet," Martin snorted. They crossed the street towards a building, with the ground floor being used to make a small restaurant. A wooden post hung outside, labeled ' _À La Bonne Heure',_ and stepped inside a rather small, but quaint place that looked more of a peaceful coffee shop than a restaurant like the _Koi Tsunami_. People ate or drank quietly on their comfortable chairs, most of the booths were occupied by others playing cards or reading newspapers, and there was even an area near the window for small children to play while their parents were too busy watching a French soccer game on the bar's TV.

Martin led RJ to the nearest empty table. "Shouldn't we wait for a host or something before sitting down randomly?" She asked.

"I practically live here," he said.

"I can attest that."

RJ and Martin turned to look at the table on the left of them. A woman in her late forties was sipping a teacup full of steaming Earl Grey. Even though they were inside, she still kept her dark blue hat and caped coat and white opera gloves on. Her wispy blonde hair with grey streaks was tied up in a very neat bun, no one could see any loose ends.

"Great. Nanny McPhee is in the house... OUCH!" Martin grumbled until he suddenly got hit on the knuckles with an umbrella.

"Manners, Martin Montgomery! And sit upstraight when you are speaking to other people!" She chided him. "You are a young man of nobility! Behave like one!"

"Um... Excuse me, but how exactly do you two know each other?" RJ asked politely. She straightened herself on her seat and put her hands down on her lap. The last thing she wanted was to get umbrella wacked.

"RJ, this is Nancy Maim." Martin rubbed his hands in pain. "Her mother, Nanny Maim, used to be my father's childhood nanny. The genetics passed on and Nancy Maim was _my_ nanny."

" _Your nanny_?" RJ said in disbelief. "How did she manage to survive with you as a four-year-old?"

"I bashed on with him through strict education and discipline. If it were not for me, he'd be in delinquency right about now." Nancy Maim told RJ. "And how did he come with a young lady like yourself?"

"He took me in as an apprentice." RJ said.

"In those clowning antics of his?" Nancy gave a disapproving look at Martin the same way a teacher gives one of those glares that tells a student he could do better than get a D on a test.

"It's more of a social adaptation mentoring," RJ said. "I was raised in a rather unorthodox fashion of homeschool education, so I left to join this training facility to incorporate with the real world. Martin here is mentoring me for an unspecified amount of time until I can finally go along with society."

Martin almost dropped his jaw. She was so good at lying!

"My, what a fine educated American lady you are!" Ms. Maim nodded her head in approval. She turned to Martin. "For once, you've picked yourself a suitable partner."

RJ blushed and Martin almost fell off his chair. "Ms. Maim, please! RJ and I are on a strictly professional relationship!"

"Isn't that what your parents claimed five days before your father proposed to your mother?"

Her comment made Martin freeze and his eyebrow twitch.

A maid brought over the bill for Nancy Maim. The latter signed it and left the former to go on her merry way. "So, Ms. Maim. What brings you in town?" RJ asked.

"Well, I am good friends with the mayor and he gave me a wonderful invitation for the town's upcoming May Day Cotillion. Perhaps you two should consider attending," Nancy Maim suggested.

"I don't dance," Martin said firmly.

"Who's saying _you_ had to dance?" The woman smirked. "You can always be a good boy and sit properly at the while watching your 'business partner' spend the night away with some other beau..."

" _Good evening, Lady Maim!_ " Martin growled.

The woman bowed her head and left off, muttering something about how she had dealt with terriers far more behaved than Fiske. Meanwhile, the latter was desperately trying to hide his face in his hands, which made him fail to notice a waitress coming in and putting down a plate of Nova lox and a cup of tea. RJ concluded he wasn't kidding when he claimed he practically lived here: the waitress didn't even have to ask him what he wanted.

"Any preferences, miss?" The waitress asked RJ.

"Just the same as him. But could you replace the cup of tea with a cup of coffee? Decaf with whipped cream?"

"Certainly." The waitress left with the notes.

RJ looked at Martin. The guy still hadn't removed his head from his hands. "Is the big boy going to continue making a tantrum?" She joked.

"Drop it," he said coldly.

"And you said we'd be doing outings to help me adapt..." She chuckled.

"I never included 'dancing at a town party'!" He finally lifted his head.

RJ arched an eyebrow. "This wouldn't be because this is a 'hoi polloi' event, is it?"

He looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I heard you and Tartufo arguing when I came to ask about the coat," she admitted sadly. "At least now I know that he really doesn't like me."

"Don't be ridiculous! Tartufo just gets jealous of every newcomer. Trust me, it took him at least five months to get used to the other monkey ninjas. Then again, I'm probably to blame. He had more exposure than the others to my 'Snobartin'..."

She put a finger on his lips to shush him. He tensed when he felt her soft skin on his rough lips.

"Sorry, snob. Only _I_ get to call you a snob."

"Fair enough." She removed her finger from him. "But no, I don't want to go to some dancing event because of class issues but..." Martin sighed. "I wasn't joking when I said I don't dance. I really don't know how to do it."

The waitress came back with RJ's order and left.

"You must be joking." The ginger blonde girl looked at Martin deadpan and listed with her fingers. "You're a nobleman with a royal title, you can do Monkey Kung Fu, you're darker and more twisted than any ninja, you can cast spells, oddly you're into boy bands, and I'm guessing that you're probably the biggest nerd I've ever met, but you can't do something as easy as _dancing_?"

"Have you seen my feet?" Martin lifted one foot up before bringing it back down.

"Yes. So?" RJ arched an eyebrow. "You can climb and hang upside down with them, I pet you could just stand on one toe and twirl like a ballerina!"

"And I suppose _you_ can?"

RJ shrugged. She got up and stepped up on the nearest empty table. Everyone in the restaurant paused what they were doing to see the girl suddenly do a perfect twirl and stop in a Swan Lake ballerina. Martin almost lost his vision at the sight of her hair spinning like a star. "OK, so I suppose _you_ can," he said quietly.

"You'd be surprised on how fourteen years home alone will give you time to self-teach dancing," RJ said smugly as she went back to her seat under the applause of the patrons. "Slow dancing, waltzing, Irish and Celtic folklore, even capoeira and western can-can!"

"What? Since when do you do dance fighting and vulgar skirt raising?"

"I used a classic can-can leg kick when I kicked you earlier today. Did you think it was random?"

"Thank you for reminding me of that dark moment." Martin made the mental note to be wary of that girl's leg movements.

RJ bit into her bagel covered with crème fraiche and salmon. "You know, I could teach you how to dance since you are teaching me in the MMP."

"I'd rather die," he shook his head.

"Oh well. I guess I'll either have to ask Semifreddo to be my pal to the May Day Cotillion or I'll just have to find the nearest computer and post to the villains' web chats that Martin Fiske is into boy bands."

" _You wouldn't dare!_ " He hissed.

"You're talking to the girl who willingly gave your stalker a microchip to track you around the world." She smiled.

Martin groaned. Sometimes he questioned the function of the potion: did Martin really deserve such punishment? Because honestly, anything seemed possible for that girl.

 _Meanwhile, back in Y.E.A.R.N_

Buffy and Melgo were really getting bored. Ever since RJ went into being the apprentice of Hairy Hands Junior, their usual routines became even duller. Even when they tried playing pool in Buffy's apartment, they couldn't stop missing the ginger blonde girl.

"Things are too quiet here without RJ," Melgo sighed as she discarded her stick and went to slump on the couch. "I hope Hairy Hands Junior isn't playing gruff on her."

"Aye. But ye know, we can always visit her during the summer. Me dad's island ain't too far from the British region where the Fiskes live."

"Buffy, RJ and Martin are in the Alps, not with Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch," Melgo shook her head.

"So, we could always pay a visit."

"Yeah. I can't help but worry. RJ's power is so unpredictable."

"I'm just as surprised as ye are. I'd never think she had..." Buffy stopped and rubbed her chin. "Well that's a new one."

Melgo lifted her head and frowned. "What is?"

Buffy walked over and sat down next to her while still holding onto her pool stick. "Last I heard, the only way to get Mystical Monkey Power is to either be born with it or use Jade Monkeys until the idols were destroyed. Everyone knew the only ones with the power were Monkey Fist and Kim Possible's sidekick through the idols and the Simian Witch and Martin through genetics," Buffy explained to Melgo. "Even before the Fiskes returned, Team Possible completely vanishes a good four years after the alien invasion and now we deal with a teenage girl who happens to be homeschooled, happens to not know her parents, happens to be quite talented without even the years of experience, and who happens to have Mystical Monkey Power. I don't know about ye, but I'm starting to see a pattern here."

"While it does sound coincidental, you can't possibly think that RJ is related to Team Possible! She's not even afraid of monkeys, everyone adores her, and her power is insanely huge!" Melgo raised her hands before then getting into a creeped out tone. "Not to mention that Hairy Hands Junior might actually be crushing her..."

"Still, it could be a possibility! Imagine if Team Possible really had a kid and the main reason they disappeared off the grid is to protect the kid from the rogues' gallery!" Buffy pointed out. "What if to add further protection, they left the kid under the overprotection of a relative who kept her existence hidden from the world while the parents separated to avoid getting attention on themselves that could put their kid in danger? And then when the kid decides to rebel and run away from home, she ends up unknowingly befriending every single rogue! They find out who she is and it starts being a conflict on whether to keep the friendship or send her to her grave!"

"I can't believe that what you just said makes sense, but still... RJ, the daughter of Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable? That just can't be!"

"I know. I personally hope I'm wrong, lassie. I could never see myself as a mortal enemy with RJ." Buffy shook her head. "If only she had legal papers and we could have some evidence! I certainly can't ask the HenchCo medical staff if they've taken a blood sample!"

"Maybe you don't have to!" Melgo snapped her papers. "If what you say is true and RJ's parents tried to hide her existence, they probably gave birth to her in secret rather than a hospital that gets filled with reporters on a daily basis. And with one of the Dr. Possibles being a neurosurgeon, they were probably able to get someone from the Middleton Hospital Midwife Program to come over and then get paid for keeping the birth a secret."

"But what does that have to do with anything?" Buffy asked.

" _I_ was born in Middleton Hospital, Buffy, back when my parents were pardoned. Whenever a woman gives birth in that hospital, she's assisted by a selected midwife from the Midwife Program and the latter has to file up the birth records into her file in the hospital's pregnancy archives. Even if the parents want the birth to be done privately at home without anyone knowing it, the hospital mandatorily rules the midwife to leave a copy of the child's birth record just in case!"

"So if we go to the Middleton Hospital and break into their archives, we could see if whether or not Team Possible had a child and if RJ's it!" Buffy jumped off the couch and ran to the nearest drawer to pull out a pair of keys. "C'mon! Let's get the search on!"

"You want us to drive all the way to Middleton in a golf cart?" Melgo scowled.

Buffy snorted. "Lipsky, I'm a Killigan! I've got my own blimp parked right outside the Minalshari!"


	19. Birth Records of Marlo Ballata

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 19: Birth Records of Marlo Ballata

 _Middleton Hospital, a good three hours later_

"C'mon, where is that file?" The doctor gritted through his teeth as he searched through the cabinets in the birth records archive. You'd think that after all these years, anyone would have noticed a missing file when the room itself wasn't bigger than a high school classroom!

Something hit the floor. He turned his head and found the air vent had been burned and kicked out. Two girls jumped in and menaced him with 'I-am-ready-to attack' poses: one with her hands glowing and the other wielding a golf club as if it were a bo staff.

"The junior versions of Dr. Drakken, Shego, and Killigan. How can I assist you?" He asked.

Melgo lowered the level of her glowing hands while Buffy frowned. "How do you know who we are? And why are you being so patient? We just broke into the archives!"

"I saw you park your blimp in the Middleton Hospital parking lot." He pointed at the window up on a wall. Buffy put her golf club away in embarrassment while the doctor continued. "So unless you have an emergency, you have exactly one hour and a half before your parking right expires."

"This is awkward." Melgo made her hands stopped glowing. "Hi. I know it may seem weird, but we actually mean no ill will. See, we're looking for a birth record."

"Yeah, I figured." The doctor rolled his eyes. "So whose birth record are you looking for?"

"That's the thing, we aren't sure." Melgo briefly looked at Buffy. "We have this friend who has rather... unsettling characteristics and she has no idea of who her parents are or were. And since she kinda stepped out of the blue and we were kind of developing a theory..."

"Do you have any idea if Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable had kids?" Buffy asked directly. Melgo gave her a glare.

"That's odd. Your search kind of relates to my missing file issue." He led them to a desk with a computer. He sat down, turned on the machine, and explained to them while he typed. "The Middleton Hospital keeps the records of every baby born in Middleton, whether it was at the hospital or if the labor was done at home. Everytime a midwife helps a mother in labor, she fills up the information and files it in one of the alphabetical cabinets. But then when I was on a ski trip in Mount Middleton with my family, I got this email from one of my colleagues." He pulled out the document and put it on full screen for the girls to read it.

 **Douglas, how is your vacation? Listen, we have a little issue with the Midwife Program back at the hospital. They can't find the document of the female birth that took place on May 10th, 2010. The members of the program claim they have nothing to do with it. When you return, could you check the records for us to see if they haven't misplaced it? All I know is that the retired Dr. Possible formally requested for a midwife intern to come do a house labor on that day.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **Charlotte**

"May 10th!" Buffy pointed at the screen. "Melgo, that's RJ's birthday!"

"Buffy, it could still be a coincidence. I bet a lot of babies were born in the hospital on that date.."

"I highly doubt it was a coincidence," the doctor shook his head. "I have a colleague who worked longer than I have and he told me that that week of May 2010 was by far the less productive in childbirth."

"What do you mean, less productive in childbirth?" Melgo asked skeptically.

"Well at every minute we breathe, a baby is born everywhere in the world. Every week, the Middleton Hospital gets around 30 newborns and I'm not counting twins and triplets. We make very good profits through the Midwife Program, but according to my friend, the week of May 10th, 2010 was by far the most dramatic he had ever seen," the doctor explained. "Until May 10th passed away, not a single baby was born in the hospital. Mothers who were expecting on that week were either delayed or lost their babies."

Melgo widened her eyes. "You're telling me that _one_ birth prevented or delayed _twenty-nine_ others?"

He shrugged. "That's how it seems."

"What does it mean when a doctor 'formally requested for a midwife intern'?" Buffy looked back at the email.

"It means that if the birth is a bit more personal, like if somebody from the hospital staff has a family member expecting, they can personally select their preferred midwife rather than have the administration select randomly."

"So if Dr. Possible did the request, that means she must have wanted a midwife for her daughter's labor!" Buffy said. "And if that midwife knew Dr. Possible, then she has to have filed the birth record!"

"Unfortunately, I don't know who the midwife was."

"Then we'll just have to look into the files." Melgo turned to look at the five aisles of metal cabinets. She gulped. "This could take a while."

A hissing noise was heard coming from the coffee-making machine. The doctor got up and pulled out the pitcher. Unfortunately, he slipped on a stranded piece of paper and fell on the floor. The pitcher, being made of glass, crashed onto the floor and broke into a million pieces while the brown liquid spread everywhere.

Well, it spread everywhere until Melgo and Buffy noticed how the liquid seemed to go through the sides of a certain tile. As if... it was sinking in.

"Hold the phone." Buffy grabbed the tile and sank her fingers in until she was able to pull up the tile. An empty, hollow space was revealed. The coffee kept spilling onto this thing that looked like a wooden shoebox.

The doctor walked over through the broken glass and brought the case to his desk. Using a paper clip, he picked on the case's lock and propped it open. "Blimey!" He pulled out a yellow envelope. "The May 10th, 2010 birth record! It's here!"

"Thank god!" Melgo took it and quickly flipped through it. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped. Her fingers shook, threatening to drop the file.

"Melgo?" Buffy asked.

"I... I can't believe it. May 10th, 2010... is actually the birth record of a... Ronilda Anastasia Stoppable. Born to Kimberly Ann Possible, daughter of Dr. Ann Possible, and Ronald Stoppable. Hour of birth was precisely at midnight sharp and zero second on May 10th. The baby is of white ethnicity, ginger blonde, and hazel eyed. Born height is 15 inches long and weight of 7 pounds."

"That is quite a small baby," Buffy said.

"Ayame Maeko is the name of the midwife who took responsibility of assisting and filing the birth." Melgo closed the file. "I can't believe it. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable had a baby!"

"Who happens to be ginger blonde and hazel eyed and who was born on May 10th!" Buffy exclaimed. "If I end up finding a document that says the baby was born with Mystical Monkey Power, I officially conclude that RJ and Ronilda are the same person!"

"Maybe these could help?" The doctor pulled something else out of the box : a bunch of old, yellowish papers complete with matching envelopes. "They look like letters that were hidden under the birth record. Problem is, they are either written in Chinese or Japanese..."

"Hang on, I actually learned Japanese." Buffy rolled her eyes as she took the letters and envelopes. "Me dad made me learn the languages of all the countries he got kicked out off, Japan being the first..." She stopped talking when she saw the first envelope. "Yeah, RJ is definetly Ronilda Stoppable."

"What makes you say that now?" Melgo asked.

"The letters are in Japanese, but the envelopes are in English. Not only do we have the address of Midwife Ayame Maeko, but guess who sent her the letters from her medical school?"

"This doesn't make any sense. Please speak English!"

"The email said the requested midwife was an intern," the doctor said. "The Midwife Program does this thing where they take in one foreign medical student to do an internship where they act on the field. The chosen 2010 intern must have been Ayame Maeko."

"OK, but who are the letters from? What Japanese medical school did Ms. Maeko come from?" Melgo got close to Buffy and the girls read together the address of the sender.

"THE YAMANOUCHI CHILD LABOR UNIVERSITY?"

"Under the direction of President Sensei?" Melgo exclaimed.

"So RJ really _is_ the kid of Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable!" Buffy said. "Remember the stories? First, those ninjas set themselves up in an exchange program to get Ron Stoppable to train at their school in Monkey Kung Fu to keep Monkey Fist from stealing that magic sword. Then, they pose as the adoption agency that got Team Possible with the baby that turned the Fiskes into stone!"

"I know! And now they pretended to be a medical school for Stoppable's kid's birth!" Melgo said.

"I don't get it," the doctor shook his head. "If a ninja school kept pretending to be exchange or adoption programs just to put Ron Stoppable and his sister in some kind of 'mystical quest', does that mean that they sent in one of their ninjas to pose as a midwife intern just to make sure that your friend was born to live our her destiny?"

Melgo and Buffy looked in worry. They couldn't believe how the doctor's words sounded so plausible.

 _French Alps, early morning_

Another box got pushed to the side, bringing in another dust cloud that brought in multiple coughs.

"Remind me again why you never dusted the area, Vitello?" Martin coughed out the question.

"Why would I dust an area that we hardly spend five hours in?" the monkey ninja asked.

"I'm gonna have to side with the snob. This place really could use some cleaning," RJ said. She put her hand above her eyes, shielding them from the dust, and looked around the underground stone room and its giant columns that held up the arched ceiling. "How can anyone manage to have such a big basement?"

The monkey ninjas began jumping up the piles of boxes and opening them one by one to see if they could find anything.

"This part of the castle was once used to stock barrels and non-perishable provisions back in the Middle Ages," Martin told RJ. "But now that refrigerators exist, my family primarily uses it to put away unused materials..."

"I found the phonograph!" Semifreddo jumped up-and-down behind a wall of boxes. "Turns out it was right next to the entrance to the catacombs!"

"Catacombs?" This got RJ excited and rushed to follow Semifreddo behind the boxes. The creature had just managed to pull out a part of the wall, which just turned out to be a wooden floor camouflaged on the outside as part of the wall. All of this as a ruse to hide the fact that it led to a very dark space. "So cool!"

"No!" Martin pulled her away and kicked the door shut. He then went to push in boxes to barricade the door.

"What's your problem? I was just curious!" RJ scowled at him.

"And the curiosity will now be over!" He said, raising his voice. "The catacombs are forbidden! No one is allowed to use them unless it's for an emergency!"

"Why? Is it where your ancestors' bones are buried?"

"Yes, but this is by far the most dangerous in the castle!" Martin glared at the barricade of walls. "The catacombs themselves make a deadly underground maze. Back when the castle was first founded in the Middle Ages, my father's maternal ancestors built the catacombs to not only bury the dead members of their family, but to create an emergency escape route in case the castle ever got invaded. The catacombs are dark, infested with booby traps, occupied by nocturnal creatures..." He shuddered. "With that dark maze, the enemies could be trapped forever, but some of castle tenants themselves got lost whenever they went in there."

"Struffoli Accident of 2025." Semifreddo sniffed. "He was so young... a baby saki monkey!"

"Our time off. We played hide-and-seek with him..." Vitello burst into tears... "and he chose to hide in the catacombs!"

"After three whole days of searching him, we feared the worst and saw that this door was hardly closed." Martin gulped and had the same horrified eye expression he had whenever it came to his Amelia-Hall-Stalking-Him issues. "We actually had to go in there to fetch him... He died in the very first booby trap."

"Barely 3 months old." Semifreddo and Vitello made the cross sign on their chests.

RJ tilted her head. "OK. If it makes you feel any better, I promise to never put my feet in the catacombs."

"Unless it's for an emergency." Martin looked at her sternly.

"What's your definition of 'emergency'?"

"Amelia Hall invading the castle and alien invasion."

"OK." RJ clasped her hands and turned to Semifreddo. "You got the phonograph?"

"Yep." Semifreddo carried the antique in his arms. "It still works."

"I hit the jackpot!" Vitello brought in a carton in his arms. "Young Master Fiske's parents collection of Marlo Ballata!"

"What is that doing here?" Martin frowned. He walked over and flipped through the box's 20 large disc covers. "All the discs that Bates gave them are here. He gave it them as an anniversary present when they came back from the Yono. My father used to love listening to the first albums when they came out in the 90s."

"Your dad was a fan of Marlo Ballata, the concert pianist expert on ballads?" RJ blinked. " _You_ actually like Ballata's style of constant romantic tunes and enamoring lyrics?"

"Well I... I was more interested in the way the piano keys flowed with the feeling it... Can we just bring this up already?"

 _Minutes later, up in the ballroom_

Nobody in the castle ever imagined that they'd be using the castle's ballroom. Yes, the two castles owned by Monkey Fist had _ballrooms._ While they were already part of the buildings, they were never used to throw actual balls or other sorts of merry-making. The only times Monkey Fist ever had to use any of them was to use them for either a press conference interviewing him or table conferences.

Positively speaking, it wasn't as dusty as the basement, so no cleaning was required. While Semifreddo and Vitello were busy setting up the phonograph, RJ and Martin were getting ready at the center of the room.

"Normally square-dancing is done at cotillions, but since Western dances aren't your style, we'll stick with waltz," RJ said. "It's not too hard."

"Easier said than done," Martin groaned.

"Look on the bright side. You're not the one who has to wear high heels at this thing." She held out her arms and held his hands, keeping a good two or three feet of distance between them. "Keep your feet close."

Martin obeyed.

"Left foot forward."

He did so. "Why did you just back up?" He asked when he noticed her right leg backing when his left one went forward.

"Because the guy leads the dance. When he goes forward, the girl backs up. Now you back up your right leg to the right." He did so, including with the following. "Bring the left foot right next to the other one. And then you do the same three steps but starting with the right foot."

"I feel like I'm a walking clock," Martin said as he went through his first steps.

"Waltzing has quite the rotating effect." She nodded in agreement.

"You honestly managed to self-teach yourself how to do that?"

"Yes, but my grandma was the one who acted as my 'dancing partner'. We only did it for laughs on New Year's Eve while we were waiting for the ball to drop."

"We got the phonograph ready!" Semifreddo turned away from the phonograph and frowned when he saw them. "You got the arm position wrong."

"Purely intentional!" RJ said in defense. "I thought he'd think it was too awkward."

"Why?" Martin frowned.

Semifreddo rolled his eyes and walked over to the couple. He pushed Martin from behind, causing the young man to bump into RJ and for the two of them to blush in awkwardness when they felt their torsos touching. Since his master was already holding the girl by the waist with his right hand to keep her from falling, Semifreddo placed RJ's left hand on the master's right shoulder and made the other spare hands hold on to each other.

"There!" He put his hands on his simian hips. "Now you actually look like a dancing couple!"  
Martin bit his lips and looked at RJ. "I guess I now know why you thought I'd feel awkward." Her cheeks burned to the deep red. His barely did as he calmly asked. "Shall we?"

"Yes. But a bit faster."

The moment the phonograph played the selected disc, Martin took the first step forward. With the chests glued to one another, he almost felt her lungs moving through her ribs. As the steps went further in movement and speed, he began to feel like the world suddenly disappeared around him. The only thing keeping him in focus was RJ... dancing with him.

Vitello and Semifreddo sneaked out of the ballroom and went outside just to peak through the door. "Three days of chores and I bet that they confess at the end of the week," Vitello said.

"Well I bet that they'll do it right after the disc ends," Semifreddo volunteered. Under the lyrics of Marlo Ballata, they shook tails on it.

 _Why need the world_

 _When I have you with me?_

 _Why remain so blind_

 _When you make me feel so free?_

 _I can stay forever in the ground,_

 _Anything you do makes me so proud._

 _Everything changes when we're together_

 _When you are my heart's treasure._

 _No gold or diamond is in your measure_

 _Because you are my heart's treasure._

 _I no longer see the stars out there_

 _Ever since you shined on me, I swear._

 _You changed everything since we're together_

 _Now that you're my heart's treasure._

 _No oyster's pear is in your mesure,_

 _You, my heart's treasure._

RJ's limbs tensed, prompting Martin to stop. They just stood there, silent, unaware that Vitello and Semifreddo were begging.

"I... uh..." RJ was unable to find the words. Martin looked hopefully at her. "You did very well," the words just came out of her like that.

"Thanks," he said, using his quiet tone to hide the disappointment.

RJ bit her lip. "I'm sorry." She let go of him and instantly walked out of the ballroom. The monkey ninjas had to hide under one of the hallway tables to avoid RJ realizing that they had been spying the whole time. They watched silently as she closed the door awfully slowly and rushed back up the stairs. The distant closing sound of a chamber door warned them to come out.

"Looks like you'll be cleaning the Chineses folding screens for the next three days," Vitello said.

"You don't sound pleased that you won our bet," Semifreddo remarked.

"Hey, I don't understand human attraction, but I can tell that an awkward situation like this one will lead to an awkward day."

 _Later, past sundown_

Martin did nothing for the rest of the day. He felt unusually moody enough to refuse eating. Even afternoon tea wouldn't bring his spirits up and every book he tried to read in his chamber just ended up being thrown across the place after failing to be captivate by the familiar first chapters. The only thing he felt like doing was laying on his bed and brood.

Around 8pm, many hours past the usual dinnertime, the door opened and an angry Tartufo came in with a cart full of food. "The days when you ingrates of humans are my murders!" The tamarin complained as he poured tea and forced it onto his master's nightstand.

"Get lost, Tartufo..." Martin grumbled.

"I'm close to the smallest in the simian domain, my life is always placed at risk to prove my loyal devotion, and how do I get repaid? With my master skipping meals, courtesy of that rascal's poisoning!"

"Just what is your problem, Tartufo?" Martin sat up and glared at the monkey ninja. "You've been complaining about RJ even though she's only been here for two days!"

" _My_ problem? Young Master Fiske, the problem is not mine but _yours_!" Tartufo removed the cover of a silver dish full of soup.

"I warn you, Semifreddo..." Martin threatened.

"For what? Speaking the truth bluntly?" Tartufo looked up at the towering human that could easily pick him up and snap him by the neck bone. "Ever since you brought the thing to your home, your behavior has drastically changed and you're turning into a soft creature that not even your own parents have faced! You let her insult you, act as your superior rather than your teacher, and blackmails you into submission!"

"For the record, I wasn't particularly nice to her when we first met! My sole reason for the non-existent submission is to avoid angering her Mystical Monkey Power and dooming us all!" Martin crossed his arms. "And what does it matter to you anyway? If you're worried that she's here to substitute you, than that's the least of your problems..."

"Females are dangerous creatures, particularly the uncontrolable ones."

"OK, now you're just being sexist."

"Easy for you to say. When you first found me in the Amazonian sector going through deforestation, I was abandoned by my group. They all fled. Why was I left behind? Because I was the only one without a mate. And why didn't I have a mate? Because the female I prefered to mate with chose to stick with the biggest barbarian rather than the promisingly devoted, faithful one of the two suitors." Tartufo clutched onto the handle of the cart. "The day you rescued me and took me in, I witnessed how solid you remained. You weren't muscularly challenging to other humans, but by remaining cold and distant, you turned into an iron wall that no one could penetrate. I chose to follow the iron wall that saved me... and I don't want the iron wall to break apart because it went sensitive over a female."

The young man just looked at the golden lion tamarin. His eyebrows scowled viciously and his finger pointed towards the door. No words were needed to tell Tartufo, he instantly left the chamber.

"The nerve of that monkey!" Martin said bitterly and finally settled to have a cup of tea. "Like my non-existing feelings for RJ would be my weakness!"

 _In the middle of the night._

 _You are a monster, Ronilda._

"No..." RJ whimpered and tossed in her sleep. Her hands clutched onto the velvet covers. Even though she slept on top of the covers while the evening was cold, her skin sweated.

 _Your existence is just a tool,_ the beastly voice was gloating in her head. _Your strength makes you weak, your friends will turn on you..._

"Stop..." She begged, her eyes sutting further.

 _You wanted a life, but it's not the one you want. I can spare you the agony by letting you live as you are intended._

"Please, no..."

 _As a living_ _ **battery**_ _!_

"NO!" RJ woke up in terror, her body glowing blue from stress. Bolts of her power exploded everywhere, smashing the posts of her bed. She could have easily been buried alive by the top if Cappucino hadn't jumped in to push her out at the last minute.

"Great Mother Of... RJ, snap out it!" Cappucino shook RJ, who was cuddling herself on the floor likea dehydrated fetus.

"A living battery... a living battery..." RJ kept repeating, horribly shaken.

Cappucino looked back at the debris of the bed. This was bound to be a long night.

 _Sunday morning_

"A living battery?" Martin frowned. He and Cappucino were discussing in the hallway, staying close to the mid-open door leading to the library. It was the one, tranquil place in the castle other than the garden, but it was the best one to keep RJ in for the moment while the poor girl was hopelessly drowning herself in her ninth cup of caffeinated coffee.

"That's what she kept repeating when she woke up from whatever blasted nightmare she had," the cappuchin said. "I hoped she'd calm down like last time..."

" _Last time_?" Martin exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell about last time? When was last time?"

"A good four hours after she went to bed when you came back from Piégrelle. I woke up hearing some strange noises and I saw her getting agitated in her sleep. Her power reacted with her and I had to spend my entire Saturday fixing the tears on the covers she kicked in."

"Why didn't you inform me about this yesterday?" He demanded.

"I thought it was just a one-time thing. I reassured her that whatever she dreamed was just a nightmare, suggested that she took a refreshing bath, and in the end she went back to sleep peacefully. But last night was madness! Her reaction almost got her to be crushed by the top of the bed and she got so traumatized from getting a second night in a row of nightmares, she's been drinking caffeine to avoid going to sleep!"

"This isn't her ninth cup, is it?" Martin pointed at the library door.

"49th, actually. Young Master Fiske, if her nightmares keep going on, she'll be emptying the castle's supply of caffeine just to avoid sleep!"

"And god knows what lack of sleep and caffeine effects could do to her in training," Martin said in worry. "Looks like I'll have to postpone the physical training to ensure she calms down through the spiritual and mystical trainings." He paused in his thoughts. The mention of mystical training reminded him of RJ getting terrified of some kind of 'male voice' that was forcing her to fail.

"Cappucino, did RJ say anything about a male voice in her nightmares?" He asked.

"Well when she was calming down in her bath, she explained to me that she was being tormented by 'the voice from mystical training' and it was telling her that her power made her a monster."

Martin remembered when he had first brought RJ to the castle. Before she passed out and slept the night away, she had said ' _I can't tell which one of us is the monster.'_

"This is disturbing," he said out loud.

"You know, I heard through Vitello that RJ got a microchip placed on her by some freak who managed to brainwash her into a Mystical Monkey Power killing machine," Cappucino said.

"Dementia Dementor is analyzing the chip as we speak," Martin said. "Hard to imagine how somebody could figure out a technology that would enslave any host of the power."

"Which left me wondering," Cappucino said. "What if the microchip's creator was insane enough to ensure that even if he lost control of RJ, he had his chip insert someting into the girl that allowed him to mess with her head? Maybe a chemical or some sort of nanotechnology that could penetrate into her nerval system or maybe her amygdala."

Martin bit his index finger. "Cappucino, the times I keep forgetting that I got you from a laboratory..." He shook his head. "I can't believe what you just said sounds plauisble to me."


	20. To You, Am I A Monster?

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 20: To You, Am I A Monster?

RJ kept stuffing herself with caffeinated drinks when she heard the snob stop conversing with Cappuccino and closed the door behind him, leaving the two humans alone in the library.

For a dark library, it was quite a massive one, even bigger than the one in Y.E.A.R.N. Every wall was covered all the way up to the ceiling by shelves full of books, all ranging from ancient manuscripts and scrolls to modern books. A grate resembling fancy, twisted silver vines fenced the fireplace, preventing any flame to come in contact with anything made of paper. The ceiling itself was a giant painting of the universe, only the normal constellations had been replaced by constellation versions of the Chinese zodiac animals. Any desk present in the library was occupied either by a globe, a cartography set, or a pile of books.

RJ nearly took another sip until Martin snatched the cup from her and threw the content in the fireplace. It must have been enchanted fire, she guessed, because the flames didn't die.

"No more caffeine, RJ!" Martin said.

"Do you have any better solution?" she asked.

"You honestly think that being an all-nighter is going to stop you from having nightmares? That whatever the mysterious voice is will just stop messing with you because you give up?" He asked back. "You're afraid, and it's understandable. You're afraid of killing and of being turned into a weapon. And by refusing to confront your fear and stand up to it, you just decide to cower and expect the mysterious force to just leave you alone because you give up!"

"It would have been easier if you had just killed me in the first place..."

"RJ, I swear, if you keep saying that, I _will_ break my gentleman code and slap you!" He raised his hand in warning.

"Go ahead." She hugged her legs and sat on the couch, waiting for him to strike. "I don't care. I can't tell anymore what I deserve. All I wanted was a life, _any_ life that wasn't inside my grandma's apartment, and now I get stuck with a power I don't want that forces me into the life of a living battery!" She broke into tears and cried in her knees. It felt so hopeless to her. Maybe if she had just stayed in her grandmother's apartment, she wouldn't have been turned into such a wreck.

Something held her from behind. RJ lifted her head up. It wasn't the sensed presence of arms holding her that alerted her, but the fact that she felt an odd sensation. It was like the unnerving bolts formed by her Mystical Monkey Power were dissolving their disability into a... serene flow.

"You have a lot of anger, frustration, and fear in you," Martin said, keeping his patient hold on RJ while siting next to her on the couch. "You just need to accept and go with the flow. Otherwise they'll just keep preventing you from harnessing your Mystical Monkey Power properly." He pulled out a red handkerchief from his uniform and gently tapped it on RJ's cheeks to dry up the tears. "C'mon, where's the stubborn vixen I know?"

"Still with the nickname? You've been calling me that name even before I read the Animology book." She took the handkerchief from him. He said nothing as she blew her nose. "Are you calling me that because I called you a snob in the first place?"

"Excluding the hair color, the sneakiness, the hidden cleverness, and the impertinent mischievous behavior? Yes." He shrugged, not hiding the smirk on his face.

"How fitting," RJ said sarcastically.

"Though I must confess, I keep getting confused by the 'British aristocratic snob' routine," he admitted. "Are you primarily insulting me because you actually despise me or because I seem to be the stereotype of the snobby upper class man who deems commoners beneath him?"

"I'm not that low!" RJ sat upright on the couch as she exclaimed. "I mean... I didn't think of you as in the stereotype... It's just... I won't lie, but you, Martin Fiske, are the most confusing guy I've ever met ever since I put my foot outside. And before you ask, it's not because you got two pairs of hairy hands or that you have... OK, I'll go with 'oddly eccentric passion' concerning monkeys. 'Obsession' sounds too brutal."

"Trust me, 'addiction' is far more brutal." He nodded and let her continue.

"Personality-wise is how I fail to conclude what to make of you. True, you're a villain and I can come up with a list of times you've been nasty or made me feel uncomfortable, but at the same time you've had your times when you show you're not a heartless jerk who doesn't care about others." She shook her hands. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not insinuating you're a _good_ guy or anything! You're still evil, but maybe with a pinch of silver armor under your dark cloak." She made a pinching finger gesture and gave out a sheepish grin.

Martin was just... staring at her blankly. "That... is the strangest thing anyone has ever said about me that is both insulting and yet flattering."

"Really?" RJ arched an eyebrow. She was surprised at his remark, yet at the same time she felt like it was expected that he'd have such a reaction. "Than I wonder what's the least strangest thing you've heard that is both flattering and insulting."

"Hardly any in the flattering. But I do get a lot of insults. Not just on my complex personality." He pointed at himself from his head all the way to his feet. "Can you guess what it is?"

"Aside from your skin, you look like a bleeding shadow?" RJ said sarcastically. He gave her a 'seriously' look and held up his right hand in front of her. Just close enough for her to see that he must have multiple strands of hair in the fur patches on his hands and feet. "Your simian limbs. So?"

"You honestly think that I'm not some sort of freak? A monster that violates every law of nature and science?" He asked quietly. "You're not afraid that since I also have Mystical Monkey Power, _born_ with it like you, you might turn into a beast like me?"

RJ looked at him. A pained look was visible in his eyes that tried in vain to remain stoic. He was testing her, it was obvious. But did she fear of becoming _like_ him? He may _look_ creepy, but inside he had full control of himself. RJ didn't want to imagine what her power's effects on her would be like if it were imposed on him.

"I'm not afraid of ending up like you," she said. "I just... don't want to be alone because of my power. No offense, but I never asked for it in the first place."

"Neither did I. Because of my mother's ancestry, I was automatically born with Mystical Monkey Power. But nobody in her family ever _asked_ to possess it. And not the best example, but my father _wanted_ the power and he got it. No matter why or how we get it, the power is transferred in us." His hand went under her curtain of hair and cupped her cheek, making her feel the tips of his fur caressing her skin in warm comfort. "You can't change the past, but what you can do is accept it and learn to move forward and take action. I can't guarantee anything about the weird voice in your head or your power's instability, but I can guarantee that if you accept the fact that Mystical Monkey Power is a part of you, you can achieve strength and confidence to block away your fears."

She smiled at him. "Thanks, Martin."

"Anytime." He let go of her cheek and clasped his hands together. "OK, next problem. How to get the caffeine out of you before tomorrow?"

 _Meanwhile, back in Middleton_

Buffy tapped her fingers impatiently on the bench that she and Melgo were sitting on. "Remind me again, lassie, why we aren't simply breaking into the ninja school to gain information?" She grumbled.

"One last time," Melgo said. "We'd be drawing attention to ourselves if word got to the Minalshari that we were searching for information on Yamanouchi that relates to Ronilda..." She lowered her binoculars. A sigh left her lips. "I still can't believe that RJ is... might be, the kid of Team Possible."

"To be fair, she was nothing like her folks _directly_ ," Buffy said. "I mean, she's no cheerleader, she's not some kind of pants-losing buffoon with a fear of everything, and she freaked out when she saw rodents at Smarty Mart. Then again, it would explain why it seemed like... like everything new she tried out at the Minalshari was like a piece of cake to her."

"The training, the monster trucks, the knowledge, the power..." Melgo agreed. "She might as well brag that she can do anything."

"Except RJ ain't a braggart. Nothing that we personally know about her matches what we've heard about her folks." Buffy said.

"OK, seriously!" Melgo looked up from her binoculars at the blue house they were spying on. "We've been spying on the house since yesterday morning! Does Ayame Maeko never leave her room?"

"No, she's on a family vacation."

Buffy and Melgo yelped and jumped off the bench when they saw a man standing behind the bench. He was holding an empty bag of groceries, which could mean that he was planning on going shopping until he ran into the girls.

"Wait, the midwife intern is... on a family vacation?" Buffy asked.

"Midwife intern? Good lord, Mrs. Ayame Bentham is no midwife! She works as an accountant for the Middleton Accountant Protocols, or M.A.P, if you prefer."

"Didn't know that Middleton had protocols for accountants," Melgo said. "We were hoping to see Ms. Ayame Maeko. We were told that she lived in this house." Melgo pointed at the blue house.

"That's the house she owns. Even after she married her husband and became Mrs. Bentham, this house is her property. But you might have to wait until next week or so to see her. She and her husband have taken their kids on spring break."

"Rats." Buffy crossed her arms.

"You said something about Mrs. Bentham being no midwife," Melgo told the man. "We saw a birth record that said she helped the labor of Kim Possible back in 2010."  
"Hum." The man pondered. "When I first met Ayame, she told me that she tried out to be a medic at the Middleton Hospital but quit after a failed first attempt and went into accountancy. If what you say is true, than that must be the medical failure she was talking about. Which would make sense, given that nobody's ever heard about or seen Kim and Ron establishing a family.

"Excuse me?" Melgo was surprised.

"I may not look like it, but I lived for a long time in Middleton. Long enough to have seen these two kids start off as best friends as toddlers to becoming a couple as high school seniors. They had quite the reputation as Team Possible, until it all ended." The man sat down on the bench, with Buffy and Melgo sitting down next to him like girls listening to a grandparent telling a story. "After they both graduated from their colleges, Ron proposed to Kim. It was wonderful. The neighborhood locals actually threw one heck of a bachelorette and bachelor party, and though I never went to the wedding myself, I heard it was a beautiful combination of Catholic and Jewish ceremonies."

Buffy and Melgo both smiled at the idea while he continued. "But then six months later, the unexpected happened. When people tried reaching out through the Kim Possible website for help, they discovered that the website was shut down. People started asking questions until the newspapers and magazines came with long articles announcing that Team Possible had permanently retired. Their reason was that 'they wanted to start living a normal life outside of crime-fighting.'"

"When did the articles come out?" Melgo asked.

"End of November, early December 2009," the man shrugged.

"Uh. By that time, Kim Possible must have been pregnant with Ronilda," Melgo pondered.

"Told you. They dissolved among the civilians and stopped playing heroes because they were expecting a baby," Buffy told Melgo in a tone that said 'I told you so.' The golfer girl then asked the man. "You'd be surprised, but we found out that they actually had a daughter."

"That _is_ a surprise," the man said in fascination. "The articles never said that the Stoppables were having children. In fact, after those articles came, the couple became scarce. Rumors say that they stayed in Middleton, but hardly anyone has ever found out their address or if they established a family. But since you mentioned that they had a girl, I do recall seeing a little girl being babysat by the Stoppables... Ron's parents, I mean. It was like a fourteen-month old ginger blonde infant playing with their adopted six-year-old daughter Hana in the backyard. When I asked about it to Mr. Stoppable when I ran into him at Smarty Mart, he said that it was just a friend's kid they were babysitting. 'Really?' I said. 'Because if I didn't know you, I would have mistaken her for your granddaughter.'"

"Let me get the process." Melgo listed with her fingers. "Possible and Stoppable marry. Pregnancy leads to public excuse for retirement to cover up the situation. A ninja acts as a midwife intern and helps Possible give birth directly from home. Paternal grandparents babysit their granddaughter until the maternal grandmother takes the kid with her to live isolated in the apartment while the parents go off without contacting their kid and leaving her without knowledge of her legacy. Girl then goes rogue and runs away from home." She frowned. "Add in the act that the ninja decided to stay in Middleton. Why do I feel like there's a missing piece or something?"

"Did the parents know that the midwife was a ninja?" The man suggested.

Buffy snapped her fingers. "About everytime something fishy happens _after_ them ninjas pose as somebody else, Team Possible never finds out about it until the Fiskes get involved. First, the sidekick didn't know they feigned to be part of an exchange program until Monkey Fist aimed for the magic sword. Then they didn't know about the ninjas posing as an adoption agency until Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch went after the Yono and the baby was a ninja baby."

"But they don't even know that RJ... I mean, Ronilda, exists! And it's not like they decided to kidnap her or something!" Melgo said. It then hit her. "Hold on. Everytime something related to Mystical Monkey Power occurred led to the Yamanouchi plans being uncovered. _We_ didn't find out about them posing as a medical school that sent phony midwives until after the mishaps that RJ created while... The Hope Diamond necklace!"

"Your friend was the one who stole the Hope Diamond necklace?" The man asked, impressed.

"Well she thought she did until we found out it was actually a fake holding a brainwashing microchip. But whatever happened to the _real_ one is the question here."

"Well I can guarantee that whoever stole the real one wasn't an ordinary cat burglar or a supervillain trying to make a death ray using diamond batteries." The man got up. "My brother used to be an old curator at the Smithsonian back in the old days. He still has his credits on him, so he always gets the security footage transmitted to him from all the museums. If you'd like to hack into them..."

"You'd help us? Why?" Buffy frowned.

"Eh. I'm bored with my life and I could really use some help with the groceries." He waved his bag at them, making the girls groan.

 _An hour later_

After they helped the man bring his groceries to his house, he took them upstairs to his brother's office. He turned on the computer and did some quick typing until he found the footage of what was a good two weeks ago. Much searching was done until he found the one related to the eve of the Hope Diamond heist.

"This is weird," Buffy said. "The glass case lifts up as if by magic, the necklace disappears for ten seconds, returns, the glass case goes back down, and we don't even see the thieves even though they rigged the alarm."

"Hm. Let me try something." Melgo took the man's place at the desk and did some quick typing, bringing the video to slow motion. Clearer than crystal came the details: in slow motions, the thieves ran in the exhibit and replaced the Hope Diamond with a replica before running off. The thieves were very familiar robots...

"My dad's rogue Bebe robots!" Melgo exclaimed. "I thought Kim Possible destroyed them!"

"Perhaps somebody managed to reprogram them?" Buffy suggested. "Do the outside security cameras reveal anything?"

Melgo took Buffy's advice and went through the rest of the footage in slow motion to see where they were going. She managed to pinpoint them in a video where they were on top of a nearby building. She zoomed in and saw that the Bebes looked like they were kneeling and giving the necklace to somebody, but thanks to the figure being so well hidden in the black-and-white footage, it was hard to tell what he looked like.

" **Bebes have performed their task, master** ," one of the Bebes said in the video as it handed the necklace to their connection. " **Bebes have succeeded in replacing genuine Hope Diamond necklace with synthetic necklace wielding microchip, as master demanded.** "

" **Your master is pleased.** " A dark, male voice said. " **And he no longer needs you.** " What happened next was so horrible, the three humans screamed in horror when they saw giant hands as big as king sized mattresses killing the Bebes by smashing their heads into each other before eventually shooting them with something that disintegrated the metal bodies into dust.

"Great Lord!" The man said as the video camera footage shut off.

"M...M...Melgo? D...Did you see those hands?" Buffy quivered.

"Yeah, they were big!" Melgo was horrified as well.

"Well, positively speaking, we can confirm that it wasn't Monkey Boy's family who switched the necklace. The bad news is that **A GIANT IS AFTER RJ**!"

 _Morning of May 1st, back in the Alps_

Thanks to yesterday's fiasco, everybody in the castle slept throughout most of the first hours of the morning. With RJ drinking too much caffeine to the point that becoming tired was a problem, they had gone through lengths to get her active or bored. Tartufo, against his will, suggested flower organizing. Cappuccino offered yoga. Semifreddo and Vitello made everyone watch a boring marathon of nature documentaries, even Martin thought the documentary on orangutans was dreadful. As for the latter, after the monkey ninjas had all fallen asleep from the activities _they_ had suggested, he tried reading a book out loud in the hopes to tire RJ. After that, she didn't remember what happened...

At least she didn't have trouble sleeping. It was _too_ good in her opinion when she finally fluttered her eyes open. Her power didn't agitate, the voice didn't harass her... She didn't even _dream_. If she was practicing resting in peace, that would have been a good one.

RJ felt two forms of masses that shielded her. The first one was the fabric of the couch she had sat on during the storytelling in the library. The second mass, however, emitted the warmth and volume that she only remembered when she'd run for her grandmother's bed in the middle of the night after a bad dream scared her.

As the sunlight rose in snail speed through the library windows and her eyes fully opened, she felt her skin figuratively burning... if that was even possible. She discovered that at some point in her sleep, she had cuddled with Martin, using his chest as a pillow. Surprisingly enough, she didn't find it disturbing. It was weird, but not disturbing.

She didn't want to get up. She was already stuck in the couch and moving would probably wake him. The guy already looked so peaceful in his sleep. His breathing rhythm was so normal, RJ could feel the lungs making waves on her. He wasn't exactly smiling or frowning in his sleep, but we was in quite the ease.

RJ noticed something move from him. The left nostril was moving, as if to pick up a scent. As soon as it inhaled, the other exhaled. His own eyes opened up, revealing the awakened shadowy grey eyes he had. He took a smaller sniff before turning his head to face RJ. "Good morning."

"I know. I didn't take a shower last night," she apologized. "And I don't know when I fell asleep."

"You and me both on that one. I am completely lost on when I fell asleep," he said. "Remind me to never read Jane Austen to you. You made _me_ fall asleep."

RJ smirked at his early morning joke while he tried to sit up. She did the same but remained in the area she was positioned, making their shoulders stick with each other. "It did help," she said gratefully. "I actually managed to sleep peacefully."

"Must have worn out all the caffeine," Martin remarked as he looked at the library's sole grandfather clock. "It's already 9am."

"I'm sorry I put us behind schedule," RJ said sincerely.

He plainly shrugged. "I can always torture you during the rest of the week. Besides, I already have to take you to the cotillion tonight."

"You don't have to if you don't want to..." RJ said until she felt his grasp on her left arm.

"I did not take lessons in vain," he said flatly.

"You're weird."

He arched an eyebrow as he let go of her. She then proceeded to smile. "But not unlikable," she added. Her hand went to tuck a loose strand of black hair behind his ear.

His scowl faded away. RJ felt a furry hand go underneath her chin, tilting her head up so that her chin was at the same level as his. "Thank you," he said.

RJ felt her eyes fluttering. Was this wrong? She couldn't tell anymore. He was six years older than her, her teacher, and she annoyed him. At least that's what she thought she did. Still, she didn't feel like she _should_ resist. Her face had two to three inches left until certain impact gave her the answer.

Then the library door just _had_ to knock.

"Excuse me." Martin politely pulled away and got up to answer the door, demanding what on earth the monkey ninjas had been up to and if they had done their morning chores. Meanwhile, RJ sat up on the couch and straightened herself. She still felt some confusion in her, wondering what to feel. She knew _what happened_ , but she didn't know how to _feel about it_. After all, it was only but a week before her birthday and the one-month anniversary of her escape from the apartment.

She still couldn't understand what to feel about the fact that she _nearly_ had her first kiss with a guy she never expected to end up with.

 _Later, somewhere close to 7pm_

"I still can't believe that Semifreddo stole your credit card to order the dress and tuxedo," RJ said as she and Martin got out of the cab and walked over to the town hall, where the May Day Cotillion was talking place. "Camillo must be gloating right about now."

"Eventually I will be assassinated by both of my parents. The amount of money wasted during those last three weeks..." He put a finger under his tie to loosen it a bit. "You cost me a lot."

"Cash wise or time wise?" RJ asked him.

"Both. But the Robe De Minuit does look rather lovely on you."

RJ felt her hands clutching on the fabric that made the lovely dress she had tried out back on her first day at Très Chez Léon. She never would have imagined dressing up in it to attend a cotillion with the one guy who had made a fuss over its price.

The town hall was in a very festive place. What was primarily used as a conference room or a museum exhibit had been turned into an area where people could eat from the buffet or dance. Tables and the buffet table were covered by fancy white tablecloths and decorated with candles and vases full of lilies of May. Lace streamers were hung up on the wall and the small platform made room for violinists. Attendees came from commoners to wealthy, so nobody criticized if some came in their Sunday clothes or prom gowns.

"Fancy a dance?" Martin asked RJ.

"Heavens, I really have taught you nothing!" Nancy Maim, in a white dress that made her look like an upside down lily of May flower, appeared behind them. "The proper way to ask a lady to dance is 'Would you do the honor to grant me this coming dance, my lady!' And don't forget to bow!"

Martin groaned. He lowered his back, making him more hunching than bowing. "Would you do the honor to grant me this coming dance, my lady?" He asked RJ.

"Uh... Great Joe, I just remembered! Nancy was going to introduce me to her pedicurist, we will be right back!" RJ quickly grabbed Nancy Maim by the wrist and pulled her through the crowd, leaving Martin confused. She dragged the woman with her all the way across the room, past the buffet table, until RJ made them hide behind a doorway.

"By Saint Peter, what is the matter with you?" Ms. Maim pulled her wrist away from the young girl. "That is no way for a lady to behave!"

"I'm too nervous... I can't possibly dance _now_..." RJ shivered.

"Why ever not? I hope you didn't eat something rotten from the buffet."

"I just got here, I didn't even have time ti hit the buffet!" RJ rolled her eyes. "I mean I can't dance with Martin at the moment! The situation would just get more awful!"

"Whatever happened?" Nancy Maim asked curiously. She gasped. "Don't tell me he slapped you!"

"Of course not!" RJ shook her head. "It's just... I think, though it might have been just a pure accident, but at one point we seemed to have been close enough to a..." She tapped her index fingers together. "...Endearment impact?"

She stared at Nancy Maim, who was as frozen as a garden gnome and blinking to register the words. After fidgeting her fingers as if to connect invisible pieces, she finally ended up gluing a big smile on her face and grabbing RJ's cheek, squishing them as if she were a sponge.

"Great Golly!" The woman said in excitement. "You and the Fiske chap really are a thing! You two are in love!"

"WHAT?" RJ pushed Nancy's hands away. "There's no way that he and I are in love!" She huffed and leaned on the doorway. Her eyes then widened and she began to slip downward. "Even though he kept appearing when I least expect it, I annoy him, he calls me 'dangerously alluring', I help his stalker chase him to keep him away from me... He roughly denies everytime a European villain suggests we're a couple... He taught me, practically _cared_ for me... I call him 'snob', he calls me 'vixen'... I'm still wearing that nautilus hair clip he made for me... And the impact we almost had earlier today... Oh good lord!" She covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.

"Oh, how wonderfully romantic!" Nancy Maim clasped her hands and sighed dreamily. "It is _just_ like _Pride and Prejudice_. Martin Fiske is _your_ Mr. Darcy and you are _his_ Elizabeth!"

"But we're not in some kind of 19th century romance novel!" RJ protested. "What kind of real life girl hits off with a guy six years her senior _and_ her teacher after three good weeks of hardly knowing but disliking each other?"

"You'd be surprised by the amount of girls I knew back in college who dated their teachers for extra credit," Nancy Maim remarked. "Besides, at least you've spent more time with each other than his parents have."

"What do you mean?"

"Monty and Silvia first met during the blooming days of Monty's archaeologist career at a convention. He was twenty-four, a rising star in the industry, and she was twelve-years-old and his biggest fan. Try imagining fate twisting its sick threads. They spend only twenty minutes together, followed by never seeing each other until twelve years later when they break into the same museum. He was Monkey Fist aiming to become the Ultimate Monkey Master, and she was the gorgeous Simian Witch.

"Two days later, they partner up for their first scheme together. Five days after that, he's already dropping on his knees to propose to her."

"After only spending a week with her? Was he mad?" RJ exclaimed.

"Madly in love with one another, yes. They marry, they have a baby together, they raise the baby together, they continue schemes together, they turn into stone for seven years together, they turn back to flesh together, and now they are rotting their retirement today together." Nancy Maim said in disgust. "They were and still are the clichéd of sick make out sweethearts. You and Martin, on the other hand, are a strict example of realistic couples. You're opposites but you fight like a married couple."

"We're not even dating!" RJ protested. "Heck, I'm not even sure if I like him as a friend or as a crush!"

"Does that mean that you're sure if you dislike him as a frennemy or as a hated arch-foe?"

"We're certainly not arch-foes," RJ shook her head. "And don't even know if we're friends or frennemies and if such a relationship could go past the professional line."

"Look on the bright side, at least _you_ have a better chance. While Amelia Hall and her mother have a bad case of genetically transmitted erotomania and most of the young girls who have tried pursuing the Fiske chap for his fortune or his good look, you're the only who seems to have gotten close to the point of intimacy with him despite your rocky first impressions. The mere fact that you two are _together_ while you find him self-centered and he sees you as stubborn is a powerful indicator!"

"But we're only together because he's teaching me primarily because he found out I had unstable Mystical Monkey Power," RJ said, still baffled by how Nancy Maim sounded more like an authentic psychiatrist rather than a woman trained to be a strict nanny.

"So? It gives you something in common." The woman shrugged.

"Great!" RJ groaned. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

"It's quite easy, darling. Two things to remember: give it time and _do not_ nag! If you're not certain about the nature of your relationship, just stay patient and let time determine. Wait to see if Martin says anything about it. If he says nothing about it, that means you two are friends, nothing more, but he starts saying something and sounds rather timid about the topic, it means that he has feelings for you." She pointed a firm finger at RJ. "But do not nag him about it! Start acting like an enamored farm girl, and you'll be another pathetic excuse of what it's like to fail courting Fiske!"

RJ gulped. "Amelia Hall is the primary example?"

"Yes! No nagging, or you'll become the next Amelia!"

RJ's face paled up. "I... I just can't! This was a mistake!" She ran out of the doorway and through the crowd. If there were shouts or mutters behind her, she couldn't hear them. Grabbing her dress's skirt to run faster, RJ managed to get out of the town hall building and right into the annexed gardens. The cold weather gathered everyone in, thus covering her as she ran past hedges and oaks until she settled for a gazebo hidden behind a grove of white roses. RJ immediately ran for the stone bench at the heart of the gazebo and proceeded to cry.

She just felt like life was so unfair to her.

"RJ?"

She turned her head and saw Martin stepping inside the gazebo. She dried off her tears. "Hi."

"Is everything all right? I saw you running away in a fit." He sat down on the bench. While she straightened herself on her own seat, he pulled something out: a napkin bundling colorful cube pastries. "Here. I smuggled these from the buffet table."

The moment she saw the pastries, RJ forgot she had been crying. "Turkish delights!" She geeked.

"Phase one of cheering up complete," Martin chuckled. RJ instead grabbed a couple, taking her time to chew each cube. "I never took you for a pistachio Turkish delight lover," he said, also taking one for himself.

"Are you kidding? My grandma always gave me a box of pistachio Turkish delights for my birthday," RJ smiled at the next Turkish delight she took before eating it whole. "Every year, same treat. She'd get me this box holding twelve pistachio flavored Turkish delights. I'd eat one on my birthday and then I'd keep the box on my desk, eating one delight per month until the box was empty a month before the next birthday."

"A rather clever tactic for hoarding treats." Martin nodded as they finished the treats.

"They did harden a bit, but hey, the chewier they are, the more time you have to enjoy them."

"If only I had your tactic for hoarding." Martin shook his head. "My family valet used to make the best fruitcake I ever tasted. Problem was, I was very gluttonous. Bates learned that the hard after three hard days of preparing the pastry for Christmas Eve, my five-year-old self had devoured the whole thing in the kitchen before he even got the chance to serve it."

RJ gave a teasing gasp. "The horror! I guess that's why you're so skinny. He must have locked up the kitchen to keep the fruitcakes safe from you."

"True, but then I grew out of it." He disposed of the handkerchief. Distant waltzing music came from the town hall building and he brought her up. "Milady? The first dance, please."

"Now?" RJ asked.

"Yes, I did not waste my weekend for nothing." He took her hands and brought her into the routine she had taught. At least they did it in the garden gazebo rather than indoors and not indoors with the crowd that could perhaps overwhelm them.

Martin noticed that RJ was hardly looking at him during the dance. "You know, Nancy Maim doesn't do pedicures," he said. "You're a terrible liar when it doesn't come to business."

"Because it's only when I'm getting emotional that I become a bad liar?" RJ groaned. She felt his grip on her waist tightening.

"RJ, is the incident from yesterday still scaring you?" Martin asked.

She shook her head. "It's too hard to explain..."

"I can't help you if you don't try explaining," he kept his firm insistence.

She squeezed her own hold on his shoulder, and he naturally acted unaffected. "Where would you cross the line when it comes to separating professional relationships from... the one beyond it?"

Martin blinked at her. As he made her twirl, he took his time before answering: "It depends on the parties, primarily on the one who seeks to evolve the relationship the most. But extreme levels of unwanted affection and no respect of my private boundaries is where I'll have to cross the line."

"So like with Amelia Hall?" RJ took the risk of offering such a suggestion.

He shivered. "We had no professional relationship or any of the sort. But since you are mentioning Hall, her mother and my father were a perfect example of one-sided affection undesired in the business." He pulled her back towards.

Her cheeks vainly hid their reddening phase. "And suppose you were on the professional relationship... where one side wasn't sure if the business making was even in the friend zone... or perhaps... more?"

Martin's expression seemed to soften, along with his hold on her. "Oh. Really?"

She nodded. "I can't even tell if we're in the friend zone."

He stopped dancing. For the next five minutes, they just stood there, at the heart of the gazebo. She was trapped in his arms while the merry-makers were shaking their limbs off indoors. "At least... we can agree that we aren't enemies, right?"

"Right." With his right hand still on her waist, his left one tucked a loose strand of ginger blonde hair behind RJ's ear, the same way she had done to him earlier. "But what about you? Are you hoping to be more?"

"Martin, you're... older than me."

His shadowy grey eyes rolled in amusement. "How insurmountable. Six years of age difference. At least it's not twelve years of difference, like my parents. At least between us, it's decent."

"True, but you're my teacher..." RJ still hesitated.

"So?" Martin shrugged. "I'm not a teacher in a classroom full of twenty other minors. As far as records go, you're the first and probably last person I'd probably be teaching Tai Shing Pek Kwar and Mystical Monkey Power on the planet."

RJ felt her chest burning for some odd reason. "You've offered me too much already, I have nothing to offer on my part..."

"I can wait as long as it takes," he said, echoing what he had said about waiting as long as it takes until RJ would finally tell him her name when she was ready. "Keep training with me. Improve in your MMP and in yourself. We can be friends outside of training... that is, until you decide you'd want to be more."

RJ took a deep sigh. "You really have the most impossible amount of patience. Are you sure you weren't raised by monks?"  
"Sorry. I have no monk morals," he smirked. "Besides, I don't expect everything to just come straight at me."

"Right. I can ima..."

She never understood why senses make humans briefly shut their eyes whenever they pronounce certain words. Even she did it for reasons even she couldn't explain. But the moment her eyelids went down when she was about to say 'imagine', she felt something cutting her off mid-word. That something pressed itself on her. It only last five seconds until it pulled away from her, but it still had enough energy to make her entire nerve system turn into an overcharged electric circuit. When she reopened her eyes in confusion, Martin was silently pulling his arms away from her and slightly blushing.

"I can only hope that I get the chance to earn them," he said quietly. He walked away from the gazebo under the excuse that it was getting for him, leaving RJ to stare at the mountain view to recollect what had just happened. Her fingertips touched the area that the something had touched her.

"He..." She couldn't believe the words that she was repeating out loud to herself. "He... kissed me. Martin Fiske... _likes me_?"


	21. An Astral Projected Big Uh-Oh

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 21: An Astral Projected Big Uh-Oh

A good week had passed since they came from Cannes; it was now Friday, May 5th. For RJ, it meant two things. It meant her first full month in the outside world, it meant five more days until she turned sixteen, and it meant almost two full weeks of being Fiske's apprentice.

Everyday had been intense training, with bittersweet pros and cons that led to future improvement. Through every unexpected obstacle or clever ruse he threw at her in physical training, she ended up learning to ignore the bruises and now she fully understood and performed the techniques of Tai Shing Pek War.

Through hours of synchronizing with the world as if you had forgotten you were in a Lotus position and putting patience in calligraphy, she learned how to remain patient and accepting during spiritual training.

The mystical training was, well, still a work in progress. Like the other two forms of training, RJ did understand the elemental basics behind Mystical Monkey Power. To Martin's pleasure, she even took time to borrow and read books from his library to gain further information. But even when she tried her hardest, her Mystical Monkey Power was either weak or unwilling to cooperate. Her teacher tried to annex her learning in spiritual training with the one from the mystical training, but even when RJ tried to apply patience, it took her six hours to make a candle melt with a flame enhanced by Mystical Monkey Power.

And now that it was Friday, that fact still bugged them.

"Where are we going?" RJ asked when Martin led her outside the castle right before physical training started. With May here and the weather getting nicer, it wasn't any trouble to go into the melting snowy fields of green grass while wearing their martial art uniforms. Vitello accompanied them with a golf bag full of useful martial art gears.

"We're going here." They finally stopped in a nice field, where the town of Piégrelle was nothing but the size of a Russian doll and the Fiske castle good two or three cliffs away from it. "The training we're going to do today is particularly dangerous, I don't want to risk any damage."

"How dangerous are we talking?" RJ asked.

"As you've noticed during your training, you've had struggles with your Mystical Monkey Power. You've had some improvements when we combined spiritual and mystical training, but it still wasn't enough, contrary to your rather prodigious excellence in physical training. So today, we are going to combine physical _and_ mystical."

RJ tensed a bit. "Are you sure this won't be risky?"

"At one point you will have to learn how to control Mystical Monkey Power for an actual fight, and since you did so well in physical training, it should help you control your chakras' physical system, which should at the same time give directions to your MMP."

Martin walked over to a nearby thicket and ripped off a branch. He came back and started drawing different dioramas on a small patch of dirt in the grass. "What we are going to do is a traditional form of Simian Witch attack and defense technique system based on zodiac signs and characteristics. Even though my ancestors leaned towards using the simian forms of the system, it was essential for them to know and understand the other forms."

"Like the Chinese Zodiac animals? How one animal is associated to a specific year, and a specific year is associated with an element?" RJ looked up from the sketches. "Did the Simian Witches use the basic element training associated with their born element to produce the monkey-formed attacks and defenses?"

Martin nodded, pleased by how his student was catching to him. "They aren't narrowed down to _one_ element. If you put the right effort, you can use any element and animal's characteristics to create your fighting techniques, but the strongest ones will always be those relating to your born element and animal. A quick demonstration." He turned to a giant stone that was just resting there. Then, he threw in a punch monkey kung fu style at the stone. As he did so, his hand glowed with his red-colored power, but instead of a normal glow, it looked like a glow with wooden texture. But whatever the case, his MMP hit the stone and created a giant dent that hit it in the core, turning it to rubble.

"Wow," RJ gasped.

Martin rubbed his knuckles. " _That_ was my monkey fist strike. It's enhanced by my born element, wood."

"Must have been some very thick wood," she commented, still awed by the sight. Martin chuckled before getting her attention back the stone, which he recomposed with his powers. "What? It's my turn now?"

"Yes." He waved at the stone. "You'll start with your born element and animal, gold and tiger. Focus your energy and mind on your target and use any of the striking techniques I taught you to damage that rock to smithereens." Martin quickly rushed behind a tree where Vitello was safely watching from. "But just for safety reasons..."

RJ sighed in exasperation. She turned her eyes back to the stone and placed herself: right foot forward, left foot rooted down, knees folded, and arms in. She took a deep breath, not turning her mind and eyes away from the stone. A picture of a tiger pouncing and slashing its claws at its prey came to her. RJ took a deep breath and made the run.

"I bet she's gonna try clawing the stone," Vitello told his master.

"That is a possibility," Martin said.

Then, RJ did the unexpected. Instead of striking the rock with her hands, she took a large jump, leaving a trail of blue MMP behind her. Martin and Vitello wondered what on earth she was thinking until she came plummeting down like a blue comet and gave a giant blue kick to the stone.

It shattered into a million microscopic pieces that spread all over the field, Martin and Vitello had to wait for two minutes before bringing their heads up.

"You didn't claw it down," Martin remarked as he walked back to RJ.

"Yeah, I was going with originality," RJ shrugged.

"And you did an excellent job." Martin clapped in approval. "Alright, now that you understand the main concept, we're going to practice with techniques that my ancestors have used throughout history."

"Uh... May I ask something? Completely irrelevant to the lesson?" RJ raised a finger.

"Yes?" He turned to her. While she got the part that he was here for any question, but what she didn't realize was that he was having a hopeful moment. Perhaps she had finished her thinking since the May Day Cotillion and would have given him a positive answer.

"It's probably dumb that I ask this _now_ , but..." RJ asked, "how come we have different colored powers?"

Martin blinked. This was not what he was expecting. "Excuse me?"

"You know... the Mystical Monkey Power. I know it's the root of your Monkey Witchcraft, and I am no magic expert like your folks... but how come any time I see you use it or the one time I saw your mom do it, your power turns red, whereas mine is blue?"

That was a good question. And unfortunately, he didn't have the answer for it. Martin had a flaw of recklessness in his studies: growing up, he never took into account as to the why of his MMP's physical appearance. To him, it was a blessing to have it, why worry about color- coding?

"Colors is something I hardly think about concerning the MMP," he said. "But then again, my mother and I are Simian Witches. You aren't. It might... show our differences."

"What about your dad? Doesn't he control Mystical Monkey Power too?"

Martin frowned at the notion. "Excellent remark there, RJ. I may have lived seven years without my folks, but not even once have I seen him use MMP the same way you do."

 _An hour later_

A jeep pulled ferociously up on the road in the French Alps. Three passengers were holding onto their seatbelts while the driver was charging her way up.

"Mistress, I'm begging you to slow down!" Kronos, the Homo Simius healer, begged.

"The sooner we get there, the better!" The Simian Witch grumbled as she hit the pedals.

"Silvia, you are exaggerating a bit," Monkey Fist tried to soothe down his wife before she could drive them off into the deep. "I mean, Martin is in his twenties. You're acting like he's a wanted criminal."

"He's already wanted by the authorities," Gilliard pointed out.

"Hm. Not my best choice of words."

"Mistress, you're fussing over nothing!" Kronos exclaimed. "I mean, it's not the end of the world if your boy wastes credit card money..."

"Add in the fact that we haven't heard from him in three weeks!" The Simian Witch said. "You'd think a dutiful son would at least give me a phone call to let me know he's doing fine!"

"Check it, we're at the castle!" Gilliard pointed ahead, where they could see the building appear. Then, unexpectedly, Kronos groaned and covered his head with his hands. Seeing that her family healer was having a headache, the Simian Witch stopped the car.

"Kronos?" She asked.

"Gah! So much power... I can sense... Mystical Monkey Power... a massive amount!" Kronos chocked.

"Yeah, you're sitting in a car with them." Gilliard indicated the Fiskes. "Or, you know, Martin back in his house."

"No... it's _another_ life form... It's **five hundred** times stronger... It must be!" Kronos ripped off his seatbelt and kicked the door open, getting out of the car and making a run down the hill.

"Kronos, where are you going?" The Simian Witch ran after him.

"Silvia!" Monty followed her.

"Why did I ever agree to tag along?" Gilliard sighed as he jumped out of the car and followed the other villains down the hill. Kronos was the craziest. He ran faster than Monkey Fist did when the latter knuckle-walked, but soon came to a halt and laid his stomach on the earth. He put his hand out, signaling the others to halt, and soon they saw why. Just behind the mount of earth, glowing booms of red and blue came and went. What was most unnerving, however, was the fact that whatever created those fireworks created monkey-screeching sounds.

"Kronos was right!" The Simian Witch whispered. "There are two life forms bearing Mystical Monkey Power right ahead of us, but one of them isn't my son. It's... Great Hanuman, it's like a nuclear bomb full of the power!"

"I'd be surprised if Stoppable was around the block." Monty bit his lips at the mention of his old arch-foe. "But then again, I highly doubt he'd be able to control Mystical Monkey Power..."

"Especially not such an amount!" Kronos whispered. "The Simian Witch quest is over! The Ultimate Monkey Master has been discovered!"

"Hold your horses!" Gilliard grabbed Kronos by the arm before the Homo Simius could expose them. "What if this is just some kind of ruse? Maybe Global Justice or the Halls set up this booby trap by making us think Martin was here?"

"Hm. You're right," Monty agreed with the fish-boy mutant.

"I'll go first. If this is a trap, I'll scream."

They wished him good luck. Gilliard cautiously got up and walked up to see what was happening on the field. His jaw dropped at the sight of Martin and RJ sparring with wooden bo staffs, with the spectacular sight being their glowing hands enhancing the strengths of their sticks, Martin with red and RJ with blue.

"More rooting in that defense!" Martin snapped at RJ while the latter tried her hardest to block his attack. "You'd think that you could send an attacking swing worthy of a snake slapping with its tail while at the _while_ also having a bull's sense of rock defense!"

"Before they end up in the slaughterhouse!" Without Martin even realizing it, RJ threw her right foot at his crotch. Gilliard actually had to yell in pain since the kick was enhanced by her blue glow.

"I told you to never kick me there! Why did you kick me there, _especially_ with your MMP?" Martin squirmed, dropping his staff to tend to his pained area.

"Correction. You made me promise to never kick you in the P-area when I have to be unpredictable," RJ said, swinging her staff between her fingers with perfect agility, and having stand perfectly on the tip of her middle finger. "You never made me promise to kick you in the P-area when I have to _defend_ myself."

This was too much for Gilliard. His mouth couldn't contain much longer and he started bursting into laughter. "I can't believe it!" He held his stomach as he walked down to join them. "She kicked you in the crotch _how many times_?" He kept laughing until he had to stop for a breath.

"Gill-bud!" RJ smiled and exchanged a series of friendly greeting fist-bumps with Gilliard. "How's it going? It's been weeks!"

"I know, right?" Gilliard nodded. "I mean, I heard that you went nuts and got an apprenticeship with some European, but I didn't think it would be with Martin!"

"I'm still here." Martin got up and dusted himself off. "Exactly how are you two thick as thieves?"

"Until the creepy mishap of two weeks ago, Gilliard was among the buddies I made back in the Minalshari. Aside from Buffy, you can't have a better pal for video game nights than Gill-bud!"

" _Right_." Martin rolled his eyes. This totally made sense.

"But... since when does Gamer Queen have your power?" Gilliard asked.

"Is that a problem?" To answer his question, Gilliard tilted his head to the mount of earth he had just come down from. Martin's eyes widened in fright and chuckled nervously. "How are you doing, Mother and Father?"

"And Kronos!" The Homo Simius healer jumped out of the hiding spot. Only RJ jumped in surprise.

"That is one giant monkey ninja!" She gasped.

"Uh, no, that's a Homo Simius. RJ, this is Kronos, my family healer," Martin did the introductions. "Kronos, this is..."

"INCREDIBLE!" Kronos pushed Martin out of the way and started fawning over RJ like a researcher slash college professor does when he discovers a new species. Against RJ's protests, he grabbed her by both arms and examined her popping veins. " _Just_ INCREDIBLE! Every blood cell in that girl's vein and artery system is Mystical Monkey Power enhanced, which must also increase her brain and muscle potential!" He let go of her. RJ didn't have time to recover before Kronos started assaulting her with questions. "Do you have any connections with the Ultimate Monkey Master Prophecy? Are you ancestors ten times removed cousins of the Simian Witches and descendants of Toshimu? Have you ever held the Lotus Blade? What are the unlimited boundaries of your power?"

"Can I ask you something?" RJ asked with a small smile.

"Absolutely!"

"CAN YOU LET ME CATCH A BREAK?" She shouted. Kronos stepped back awkwardly. She huffed. "Gee, now I know the horrors of paparazzi!"

The Simian Witch was the second one to come down. At first, she didn't notice RJ, because she was too busy being angry at her son. "Two weeks of burning your credit cards and not giving your old parents at least one call! Are you trying to murder us?"

"I didn't think you'd understand, Mother!" Martin shook at the sight of his mother's burning eyes.

"Understand _what_?" He attention then went to RJ shouting at Kronos and muttering something about paparazzi. "Wait a minute... I know you."

"You know RJ, Mother?" Martin gave RJ a quick 'what-is-going-on' look.

"It was back at the potluck," RJ explained to him. "Earlier that day, the Y.E.A.R.N professors noticed a possible strain in my ankle that would keep me from my first heist. Edina recommended going to your mom to get it fixed."

"Hm. Must have happened before the green room encounter," Martin said.

"Wait, you two met in Drakken's _green room_?" Martin's mother arched an eyebrow.

"Nah, they actually first met at Très Chez Léon the Tuesday before the potluck," Gilliard chuckled. "The day he came back all brooding."

"You were _brooding_?" RJ looked at Martin.

"You called me a British aristocratic snob," he pointed out.

"Didn't you manage to get back at me by calling me 'American vixen'?"

The Simian Witch had been staring at two of them doing small bickering. A grin pasted itself on her mouth and she clapped her hands in triumph. "That explains _so much_!" She chuckled.

"Mother?" Martin was confused.

"The unlike-you spending, the lying, the lack of phone calls..." The Simian Witch cupped her son's cheeks and squished them, making him feel a bit uncomfortable. "Naughty boy! Why hide from your own mother that you have a girlfriend?"

"Mother!" Martin whined.

"To be fair, Mrs. Fiske, it's more of a professional relationship," RJ cleared her throat, though her blush was distinguishable. "There have been... circumstances when we made it clear we weren't interested."

"What circumstances?" Gilliard asked. RJ and Martin said nothing, but Gilliard noticed Martin's expression looking a bit... unpleasant. He scowled. "Excuse me, Mrs. Fiske. I need to borrow Martin for a moment." The moment the Simian Witch let go of her son, Gilliard grabbed Martin by the arm and pulled him at least twenty feet or something to mumble something they couldn't hear. Kronos, in all his excitement, decided to go back to the mount to get Lord Fiske, who was still hiding for precautions, leaving RJ and the Simian Witch.

"I'm surprised that I haven't sensed your power the moment I met you," the sorceress confessed to RJ, who was crossing her arms for comfort.

"It's kind of new to me..." RJ then blurted. "It only started showing during my first week at Y.E.A.R.N and when Melgo identified it as Mystical Monkey Power..."

"Melgo _knew_?" The Simian Witch asked crossly.

"Yeah, I later found out that she used Amelia Hall as a diversion to steal a book on basic Tai Shing Pek Kwar to see if she could help me control the power..."

"Did it help?" The Simian Witch raised her eyes curiously.

"A bit... but it wasn't enough. At first, the power did the controlling on its own and bad things followed. When your son found out I had Mystical Monkey Power, he instantly wanted me to be his apprentice because he thought I needed the proper training, but..." She chuckled nervously. "Honestly, I didn't like your son _at all_ back then, so I tried to... avoid him, but nothing stopped the bad things from coming. There were some minor returns when he started teaching me, but then it got better as we went to today. Though I still have more issues with the mystical training than the physical or spiritual."

The sorceress rubbed her chin and pondered. "Interesting. And how old are you?"

"I'm turning sixteen this coming Wednesday."

"Hm." The woman nodded. "In my family, it's common for a Simian Witch's Mystical Monkey Power to be dormant until it makes its booming awakening on the host's sixteenth birthday, but I cheated for Martin and made him start learning Monkey Witchcraft by the age of eight. But with you... you're obviously not a Simian Witch but your power's energy emits the one that is relative to the genetically inherited. Perhaps your family is an extremely distant relative of mine?"

"I think Martin had a similar theory, but I know nothing on my own family." RJ shook her head.

"Orphanage?"

"No. Raised by my grandmother and isolated in an apartment. It's only last month that I ran off."

"The lengths of grandparents..." The sorceress shook her head, which readers know is relating to her complicated relationship with her maternal Grandfather Sylvester (reread THE SIMIAN WITCH).

Kronos and Monkey Fist came down from the mount. While Kronos came in excitement, RJ found herself being paralyzed by the sight of Monkey Fist. Just seeing the walking picture from the HenchCo library magazines walking in the flesh and looking like an older duplicate of Martin Fiske was fascinating enough, but for some reason seeing this close to mid-age man sent an alarm ringing feeling down the girl's spine. It was as if to warn her that this man is dangerous. And he seemed to have that physical reaction too, because he was giving her a glare that none of the other villains had given to her yet, not even Martin.

The glare that one had when an unknown object was identified as a definite certain threat.

"This is not... possible..." Monkey Fist scowled at the girl.

 _You are a threat to him, Ronilda,_ the old mysterious voice echoed in her mind once gain, blocking her senses. _Get rid of him before he disposes of you first._

Her conscience froze. She saw and heard nothing. All that came next was that her eyes glowed blue and she instantly threw in a blue punch at Monkey Fist. He was swift enough to dodge it, unlike the mount that crumbled behind him.

"What in the world?" He exclaimed.

RJ held out her hand. Her bo staff returned to her palm, turning it to burning blue metal the moment she clutched it. The adults' eyes widened when they saw it transform into an ax.

"What on earth is wrong with her?" the monkey man exclaimed. He dodged again to avoid the spinning ax coming from the girl walking like an automaton.

"Unstable Mystical Monkey Power..." The Simian Witch looked in horror.

"Not again!" Martin and Gilliard ran back. "Does anyone have a taser?" Martin asked. "A taser knocked her out the last time _this_ happened!"

"I just stole this one from the mall security!" Gilliard pulled out a taser stick from his shirt. Since RJ was so distracted trying to hack Monkey Fist, she didn't have time to notice Gilliard creeping up on her until she got electrocuted and fell to the ground, losing her glow as she fell unconscious.

"This was unexpected," the Simian Witch said.

"Is RJ going to be OK?" Gilliard asked.

"I... I don't understand!" Martin stammered in shock while Kronos quickly picked up the girl in his arms. "I... The microchip is not on her, she spent a week without any weird voices! Why is she turning emotionless again?"

"Well I guess the one way to find out is for you to tell us what is going on?" Monkey Fist told his son with an expecting frown that was mutually shared by the Simian Witch.

"He can explain back in England!" Kronos said in worry. "The girl's temperature is dropping! I need to take her to my healing chamber for proper curing!"

 _Hours later, at the Fiske Estate in London_

Kronos was taking care of RJ in the healing chamber. While that was happening, Monkey Fist, the Simian Witch, and Gilliard were listening with disappointment at Martin, who told them the whole story of everything that happened from his first encounter with RJ, including the potion crafting and the fake Hope Diamond necklace holding a microchip that could brainwash any MMP host that touched it.

"I cannot believe that you still went through with the potion! And you made her drink it while she was unconscious!" Gilliard said.

"To be fair, I don't think it worked," Martin said bitterly.

"You are an _idiot!_ " His mother said. "Haven't you learned anything concerning emotional mystics in Monkey Witchcraft? The victim only becomes your physical slave if she has one hundred percent of hatred for you! Evidently, RJ had enough respect to obey from her own free will, but you can bet that the moment she finds out you potioned her, she will hate you and _then_ the potion will work!" She sighed in frustration. "To think that you were planning on doing it even before you found out she had the power!"

"It did soothe her power down by a tad." Martin offered.

"You could have just given her flowers to tell her 'I can't stop thinking about you,' Darcy-boy!" Gilliard now sounded like Nancy Maim with the Darcy-Bennet comparisons.

Monkey Fist cleared his throat, getting their attention. "While Martin's... rather inadequate seducing antics are very shameful to us all, shouldn't we primarily worry on his news that somebody out there is using technology to brainwash a child that almost killed me?"

"You have _such_ a priority." His wife got up and walked over to the mahogany counter holding the vintage telephone. After zapping it with a bolt of magic, the machine quickly dialed and the Simian Witch waited for the line to answer. As if it were on an old-fashioned speaker mode, the voice at the end of the line answered.

" _Lab of Dementia Dementor, where you are guaranteed to be destroyed if you tamper with my work! I am currently on speakerphone. How may I assist_?" Dementia's voice spoke.

"Hello, Dementia, this is Lady Fiske along with the rest of the clique," the Simian Witch said in the friendliest tone she could come up with. "I have my son here who claims that he has this friend who got brainwashed..."

" _I told him that it might take me longer to analyze that chip!_ " Dementia shouted. The sorceress had to back away from the telephone to avoid getting her eardrums fried. " _June at the latest!_ "

"So this is real?" The Simian Witch asked. "You're really analyzing a microchip that could..." She gulped. "Brainwash Mystical Monkey Power bearers?"

" _That's what Herr Fiske said and I checked with the Fashionistas. Both Chino and Hoodie have witness evidence._ "

"Otherwise, how is the microchip analysis going, Dementia?" Martin asked from his seat.

" _Still dissecting. You have no idea of the dozens of layers of nanotech perimeters surrounding the biotech wiring..._ "

"And in English?"

"She's saying that whoever fabricated the microchip used a ton of advanced nanotech to create a dozen of inner shields around the circuit system that controls the wearer's DNA," Gilliard translated.

" _Exactly_." Their best guess was that Dementia was nodding from the other line.

"A microchip that can control a wearer's DNA?" Monkey Fist's eyes widened.

"No, it's the biotech wiring _in_ the microchip that does the controlling." Gilliard shook his head and explained. "Back in _my_ time at Y.E.A.R.N, my first three heists involved trolling the lab where my dad got stuck in and stealing information. At one point I spied on their experiments and saw that they made prototypes of biotech wiring. The purpose was to have the wiring root through the host's bioelectricity currents and then plunge the technology into the blood system. Originally they intended to use the microchips to help fight of blood poisoning, clotted arteries and other internal diseases connected via blood, but after a failed human experiment caused the human guinea pig to internal get electrocuted, they shut down the project, and then the lab."

"Let me see if I'm understanding you properly." Martin did a time-out hand gesture. "You're telling me that some scientists idea to use wires to cure blood diseases... can be used to control someone holding Mystical Monkey Power. I'm not seeing the link."

"Actually, it's not too idiotic," Monkey Fist realized. "If I remember what I learned back in high school biology, the blood system goes all over the human body to carry out the oxygen, even the brain. If the scientists were mad enough, they could have used the biotech wiring to control a human body by manipulating the blood system like internal puppet strings."

" _Well whoever was crazy enough to put_ _ **that**_ _in a microchip in a fake Hope Diamond necklace that RJ ended up stealing was mad enough for both that and to create those dozens of shields_ ," Dementia added through the line. " _He could have easily stolen the prototypes and enhanced them. I mean, I only managed to break through_ _ **one**_ _of these damn things! And it took me five days! I used to think security was dumb for exposing high-voltage wires at live concerts, but this is ridiculous!"_

"Well thank you again, Dementia," the Simian Witch said. "Let us know if you find anything else."

" _Da. Ooh, and please remind the Fraulein that she is welcome to come over and play cards with me and my aunt if she ever gets bored!_ " Dementia hung up, leaving the line in static until the Simian Witch hung up the telephone.

"OK, I know that my general career is dangerous, but this is worse than the time when I got sent to that Global Justice asylum!" The Simian Witch rubbed her temples in pressure. "What other damages did RJ do?"

"I kept track." Gilliard pulled out a list and read through it. "OK, first she stole the Hope Diamond, which led to the bridge explosion and forty-seven casualties..."

"FORTY-SEVEN?" The married couple exclaimed.

"That's combining civilians and the police," Martins said grimly.

"Then the following don't sound so harmless, she did a criminal spree of robbing jewels from museums and stores," Gilliard continued, " but then she murdered a royal ambassador and stole her tiara, stole tungsten from private Asian factories located in the US, and even burned a Texan town while stealing from the Centurion Project scientists. Total dead people? 115."

"86 of them being civilians," Martin added.

"My god... This worse than the Yono..." The Simian Witch dropped on her chair. "How did you even manage to get the thing off her?"

"Oh, Chino helped me set up a trap for her in an Italian highway and I took the necklace off her after Chino hit her with a taser," Martin said.

"How'd you even manage to get Ms. Teenage Zombie to come to Italy?" Gilliard moved his arms up and down to imitate the stereotype of a zombie arm wave.

"I created a flux of Mystical Monkey Power energy matching the one of the Lotus Blade. Chino helped me spread a false rumor that the Lotus Blade was being transferred to Italy and she instantly swallowed the bait."

"The Lotus Blade and the Centurion Project." Monkey Fist went through old memories of his first days as a supervillain. "The sword was made out of a pure rich mineral atom that is only found in tungsten, I remember reading that in my manuscripts. As for the Centurion Project, I heard that Drakken and Killigan once went after this trinket that could cover a stressed person with a growing armor..."

"Oh, now it all fits!" Gilliard gave a goofed up smiled and slapped himself on the forehead. "Somebody must have heard of how powerful you guys are when enhanced by Mystical Monkey Power, so the enemy must have decided to brainwash RJ to get the genetic information and tools he needs to build an army of self-covering battlesuits wearing warriors bearing shapeshifting swords or bearing Mystical Monkey Power to take over the world!"

The Fiskes stared at Gilliard. Their eyes twitched and they obviously **did not** smile at such a possibility.

" _You_ will end up becoming someone's dinner if what you say is true!" Monkey Fist raised a warning finger.


	22. Hate Sins, Not Sinners

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 22: Hate Sins, Not Sinners

RJ woke up minutes later and sat up on bed after Kronos tapped her forehead with a damp towel.

"Did I kill anyone?" she asked in worry.

"No, but you did attack Lord Monkey Fist," Homer answered.

"My God, Martin's going to kill me..." RJ dropped her head back on the pillow.

"Unless you kill him first." Kronos poured some seaweed broth soup into a bowl. RJ gave him a confused look. "The young master applied an ancient potion in your system after you got taser-shot in Italy. I don't know what the sorcerers were thinking back then, making the man get what he deserved and the woman what she wanted."

"So what, it's supposed to reveal what the heart wants?"

"Well, along with unwilling obedience..." Kronos gave her the bowl. "Drink this."

RJ took the bowl in her hands and sipped through it, gagging. "Well that makes sense."

"That this is one of Gilliard's soup recipes and I only use it because it's rich in vitamins?" Kronos raised an eyebrow.

"Well that and also why I've been emotionally confused for the past four days." RJ used her iron stomach to drink through the repulsive broth.

"You mean you were aware that Martin potioned you?" Kronos exclaimed.

"Uh, no." RJ stared at the Homo Simius healer. "It's... too complicated to explain."

"I can't help you figure out how to deal with your problem if you don't give details to the emotional impacts," Kronos said firmly. "Mystical Monkey Power is not just a force that lives inside your metabolism, it particularly roots itself in the sensitivity. If you're very emotional, the power can be very strong."

RJ sighed. She handed the bowl back to Kronos, who replaced it with a notepad and a quill to write with. "Have you ever had a moment in your life when you start hating somebody the moment you meet him and you start learning to appreciate him as you spend more time with him, but you aren't sure if the appreciation is just in the friend zone or maybe beyond it?"

"Perhaps." Kronos wrote down the details on his piece of parchment. "So you're uncertain of what to make out of the positive emotions."

"Yes."

"But now that you know what he did, how would you label those emotions?"

"I don't know... I mean, on one side I have every right to be mad at him for practically giving me an enslaving potion, but at the same time he did so much for me... Teaching me and making me feel safe while at the same time helping me accept that I'm different... What would have happened to me if the potion took effect?"

"You'd physically do whatever he demanded and in the end, the man would get what he deserves while the woman got what she wanted," Kronos stopped writing. "But based on what you just told me, it seems that because you half despise the young master but at the same time have an undecided affection for him, the potion was uncertain of how to respond. You moved at your own will while still willingly obeying him."

"So how do I make the situation end?"

"Mutual return of affection." Kronos shrugged. "But that could take a while."

RJ sighed. How much more complicated could things get?

"There is one part that perplexes me," Kronos admitted. "Why did you attack Lord Fiske? His son said that the last time you attacked under the influence, you didn't quite care of who you were killing as long as you reached you're target."

RJ stiffened. She then proceeded to remove the covers that were beginning to bury her alive. "I don't know why I attacked, but I started getting warning physical warning systems when I saw him. Next thing I knew, I was hearing the same voice that kept trolling me in my head. The voice said that I was a threat to Martin's dad and I should get rid of him before he kills me first."

"Pause. You received _physical_ warnings before getting brainwashed?"

"I guess. I mean... Melgo was the first to find out that the power I had was simian-related and she warned me that the Fiskes were picky on who should deserve the power and they would kill me to cross me off the obstacle list. I felt semi dread at the possibility of being killed by Martin or his mom until they made it clear that they had no intention of killing me, but for some reason there's something about Monkey Fist that... may have caused my instincts to believe he's not someone to mess with. Personally."

"Hm." Kronos pondered. So the girl's instincts assumed that Monkey Fist was bad news. Out of the three Fiskes, _he_ was the one that began to stir the most fear in the child and now she feared death in his hands more than being possibly killed by the Simian Witch or Martin Fiske.

He looked again at RJ. If she had been paranoid enough and monkey-phobic, Kronos would have done the dumb guess that she was probably the offspring of Stoppable and her genetics would have made her wary of her father's arch-foe. But no, it couldn't be true. Stoppable wasn't heard of in decades now and RJ had far too much Mystical Monkey Power while the buffoon hardly mastered his the last time they saw him. Besides, she managed to survive living with Martin Fiske. If she had been Stoppable's child, the Fiskes would have instantly found out and killed her on the spot.

But there was no possible way that RJ was a Stoppable.

Could it?

Kronos didn't know. But one thing was certain: he couldn't tell that complexity to his masters.

 _Meanwhile, back in Middleton_

The Bentham family had returned from their family vacation and Melgo was now pressing on the doorbell.

"You think the ex-midwife will answer it?" Buffy asked.

"One way to find out." The door opened. A Caucasian man in his forties stood before them.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Hi. My name is Melgo Lipsky and this is my friend Buffy Killigan. We asked Mrs. Bentham if we could interview her on her career for this project we're doing for school and she told us we could stop by her house. Problem is, she didn't tell us which time and we _really_ need to get the project done."

"Of course. Do come in." The girls stepped in and Mr. Bentham led them into a rather comfy appearing home with dark red walls and many Japanese statuettes. He opened a door leading to a staircase heading down. "Ayame's office is down in the basement. Why don't you go surprise her?"

"We will."

Mr. Bentham walked away. Melgo sighed and took the lead down the flights of stairs. The moment they reached the end, she gave Buffy a finger gesture to remain quiet. The girls peaked through the doorway and saw the basement. There were no expected boxes for storage, spider webs, or flicking light bulbs. It was modeled like a traditional Japanese room only the walls had tax files push-pinned on the wall. The bookshelves were neatly organized with career-related books. The only thing that gave away the fact that this was no ordinary accountant's office was the black ninja suit placed on a mannequin and the shurikens displayed behind a glass wall. A Japanese woman who appeared to be Mr. Bentham's age had her back turned on the doorway while being busy sitting on the floor and typing on the computer.

"You can stop hiding behind the doorway," she said firmly.

The girls were stunned, but cautiously, they walked into the open. "Ayame Maeko?" Melgo asked.

"Look, if this about the Renton Revenue, keep telling Mr. Thaddeus that I'm not interested," the woman said flatly.

"Actually, we're here because of tax exchange transfers," Buffy said while checking her nails. "Nothing big, but we wanted to change accountant insurance companies. Maybe, you know, the Yamanouchi accountants?"

The woman stopped typing. "What do you want from me?" She asked.

"Nothing harmful," Melgo promised. "Listen, our friend has Mystical Monkey Power and we're worried that she might be under a great threat. And truthfully enough, you just happened to have helped Kim Possible give birth to her child and hide these in a shoebox in the hospital archives." Melgo pulled out the Japanese letters and walked over to the woman. The latter turned and said nothing as she took the letters from Melgo.

"Congratulations," she said firmly. "You are the very first to have found the secret."

"That Yamanouchi also does secret ninja midwives?" Buffy asked.

"No. That we tried preparing Ronilda for her fate..." The sound of footsteps alerted them. The women instantly sat on the floor like hippies and Buffy pulled out her recorder.

"I brought you three some tea," Mr. Bentham said. He placed a tray holding a teakettle and teacup in the middle of the circle. "Are you eager for the interview, honey?" He asked Ayame.

"Naturally, honey. I was just about to explain to these young ladies the process of getting into an accounting school."  
"Great. Well I'm off to pick the kids up from karate. Call me if your new friends would like to stay over for dinner."

All three women gave large toothy grins that evaporated the moment Mr. Bentham was back upstairs. "Your husband has no clue that you're actually from a secret ninja school!" Buffy said.

"Naturally," Ayame nodded. She picked up a teacup and began to take small sips. "So, the children of Drakken, Shego, and Duff Killigan have befriended the runaway Ronilda-san? That is good news."

" _Good news_?" Melgo scowled at the woman who was drinking tea in serenity while the blue-skinned teenager was freaking out. "You mean that those blasted ninjas _wanted_ our friend to run away from home and mix in with the villain community?"

"That was the former Sensei's backup plan in case the original one went downhill. He was quite prepared even though the world wasn't. Stoppable-san wasn't supposed to have children."

This made Melgo pause in her anger. "What do you mean, 'Stoppable wasn't supposed to have children'?"

"She's right," Buffy crossed her arms. "Why would the ninjas, who kept insisting that the old buffoon was the Ultimate Monkey Master, not want any old buffoon juniors?"

"Does this answer your question?" Ayame pulled out a red remote from her shirt and pointed at a wall. Once the button was pushed, the wall opened up to reveal a hidden painting that was the wall's length. With its papyrus texture and black calligraphy painting, it looked like it was representing twelve giant figures fighting before eventually giving away crystals to other people, and one of the giant people was seen laying down, forming a mountain holding up a building.

"It is in Yamanouchi's old records that Mystical Monkey Power was not originally from Earth," Ayame said. "When life was still young, the worlds were protected by twelve celestial entities that used their powerful essences to bring peaceful balance in the innocent and good mortals. Unfortunately, one entity of the twelve did not believe in the eternal goodness of mortals, so she ended corrupting herself to corrupt mortals to prove her point to her peers. She became known as the "Violet Death", and had the strongest of her peers not banished her to a distant black hole, who knows what could have happened?

"The remaining celestial entities recognized that when used wrongly, the power of their essences would bring great damage. At the cost of their lives, they ripped their essences into crystals that were spread all over the universe. Many would find sanctuary in living hosts, and the largest crystals were guaranteed to give their hosts the most power..."

"This is very nice stuff, but what does it have to do with RJ?" Buffy asked.

"I'M GETTING THERE!" Ayame snapped, startling Melgo and Buffy. "Before you started interrupting me, I was going to say that only the entity who vanquished the Violet Death protested against his comrades' actions. He believed that the Violet Death might someday return, but because he had to keep his word on splitting his essence, he created only two crystals. A tiny one that he destroyed and a massive one that he brought with him to Earth."

"I think I'm starting to understand where this is going." Melgo pointed at the mountain and its building. "That's actually Mount Yamanouchi, isn't it? The mountain is actually the body of the celestial entity when he died. My guess is that Toshimu was in the area when this mountain came out of nowhere and he found the big chunk of rock?"

Ayame nodded as she put the tray on the table. "By tethering to Toshimu's soul and skills in Tai Shing Pek Kwar, the 'space essence' took such knowledge to expand the skills' capacities. Any host of Mystical Monkey Power will get enhanced skills, but the Ultimate Monkey Master is the chosen guardian to protect all humanity with the power giving him such superhuman abilities. The problem is, the power is picky and the Ultimate Monkey Master can't reproduce."

"Why would it be picky?" Melgo asked. She walked down the wall and pointed at what looked like medieval folk drinking tea. A Japanese man was painted pouring blue tea in the cup of a child while the others looked like they were drinking normal. "Hey, these look like Jewish folks from the Protestant times. Is that a Yamanouchi agent pouring Mystical Monkey Power tea... in a kid?"

"Yes, that is Stoppable-san's ancestor. The first to mark a line of potential candidates."

"Candidates?" Melgo shook her head. "You mean, Yamanouchi has been onto Stoppable for centuries?"

"Like I said, the power is picky. Unless you are a descendant of Toshimu, the only way you could get MMP was through the Jade Idols, the only artifacts to hold Toshimu's soul. _Anyone_ can get the power, but the power has a sentiency of its own. The conscience of is celestial owner still lives in it and will only give the chosen one the full power of Ultimate Monkey Power if the host is pure hearted and initially unwilling to possess the power.

"For centuries, Yamanouchi has studied in secrecy and sent agents to spy the other civilizations to find any possible candidates. When no candidates were found in Asia, they moved further West. A possible target was located in France during the rise of protestants, so they sent a Yamanouchi alumni to pose as a nomadic merchant. As expected, while the other folks kept shutting their doors at him whenever he asked for shelter, the ninja got welcomed into the home of a Jewish innkeeper, Aaron Stoppable. The man and his family instantly welcomed the ninja inside, and as a secret way to thank them for their kindness, he slipped MMP grinded crystals into the tea of Aaron's youngest child."

"That's some way of thanking someone for their hospitality!" Buffy snorted. "Putting foreign substances in their kid's drink!"

"I thought it was Aaron the target," Melgo frowned.

"He was the target because his family was kind-hearted and they had children. The purpose was to locate a line of potential candidates, in other words, descendants given the potential of becoming the Ultimate Monkey Master..." Ayame said.

"Oh, I get it now!" Buffy snapped her fingers. "By giving the kid the tea, any of his descendants could become the Ultimate Monkey Master depending on who was around when the statues were revealed! That way, once they were gathered, the current Stoppable could get the full Mystical Monkey Power dose and get the title!"

"And since Ron Stoppable was the only candidate left in his family from Aaron Stoppable, the power locked in the idols recognized him and selected him. That's why, whenever the chosen one has the true full power, his power turns blue, the entity's main color."

"The entity's main color was _blue_?" Melgo frowned.

Buffy cut in, insensitive to Melgo's remark. "But what about the part of 'can't reproduce'? What did you mean by that?"

Ayame sighed. "Well the thing about being the Ultimate Monkey Master is that you must live like a celibate monk, aside from the marriage. If a child was born from the chosen one, the power would be passed on to the child, only his or her power would be far more powerful and would become the powerful warrior destined do die while confronting the Violet Death when she escaped her prison."

"So if RJ wasn't born, she wouldn't have to face the evil entity?" Buffy said.

"Indeed. Honestly, it's quite an embarrassment on Yamanouchi. We didn't find out about the prophecy and anti-child rule until we decided to look again..." Ayame sighed. "And we only stumbled upon it to realize that it was too late to warn Stoppable-san. Sensei received a letter from Wade Load explaining to him that Stoppable's wife was expecting and were ending their crime-fighting careers to keep her safety underground. As I was the only Yamanouchi alumnus located in Middleton, Sensei tasked me to pose as a midwife and assist in the labor. The letters and envelopes you have with you are those I received from Sensei when I reported to him the process of Ronilda's life. Her health status, her interactions, her toddler nature..." She smiled. "The amount of times she giggled whenever Stoppable tickled her tummy. Out of the two parents, _he_ was her favorite."

Buffy nodded with a smile. Melgo opened her mouth to say something, but the golfer girl cut her off. "So once you kept track of RJ and Yamanouchi was aware that she had to face some kind of space god, what did your Sensei have planned out?"

"Well his original plan was to have Ronilda enrolled at Yamanouchi as soon as possible to commence her training. Unfortunately, because Martin Fiske killed him to set the Fiskes free from the Yono, the plan never took place. That's why he foresaw it and had a _back-up_ plan. He knew that if the Fiskes were freed and started hunting down Stoppable, Kim Possible's overprotective and paranoid nature would cause her daughter to be blinded from the truth, with the consequence of never being with her parents or training at Yamanouchi..."

"So the backup plan was for RJ to be cooped up at her grandma's place, and since she had no clue of her parentage and destiny, she ran away and ended with the last resort to train her. Martin Fiske!"

"Indeed."

"Are you ninjas suicidal? The moment Martin and his family discover who RJ is, she'll get her head stuffed on their wall!"

"Buffy, forget the ninjas!" Melgo shook Buffy by the shoulders. "I think I finally know who brainwashed RJ!"

"Why didn't you say anything?" Buffy asked.

Melgo rolled her eyes. "Listen, when Ayame mentioned that the entity who created the energy for MMP was blue, I instantly remembered my dad's stories and related to the giant hand from the security footage."

"And?"

"Remember when my dad got mistaken for 'The Great Blue'?"

Buffy's eyes widened in horror. Just then, the ceiling exploded. Ayame pushed the girls aside and shielded them from the debris that fell on them. They coughed and tried to see what hit them. With the dust that covered the room, all they could see was a silhouette bringing down her metal claws at them.

 _Meanwhile, back at the Fiske Estate_

RJ could conclude that she was now lost.

Compared to the castle in the alps, this one was far more massive. Larger chambers, a dining hall that could fit a hundred people, a big dojo, double the amounts of hallways, and so many secret passages that made you lost.

She found another door. Hopefully, it would lead her to an exit, but when she pushed it open, she found herself in yet another chamber. Except this chamber looked more like an abandoned antique shop than a room decent of an aristocrat. Dust bunnies flew around in ground-level clouds and the lamp made a buzzing noise once RJ flipped the switch on, not bringing much light into the room, but still... rather curious to look at.

RJ took a step forward and felt her shoe accidently hitting something. She felt an odd breeze going through her white Victorian shirt and black skirt as she bent down and picked up what looked like some kind of green stone. Her fingers rubbed on the stone, dusting it to reveal that it wasn't just green stone, but _jade_ green stone.

She looked further in the room. Most of the floor was piled up with broken pieces of jade green stones. As RJ curiously went through them, she couldn't help but notice that the stone pieces formed what used to be eyes, arms, mouths, and ears.

Eyes, arms, mouths, and ears that belonged to a well-carved simian idol.

A knock came on the doorway. RJ turned and saw Gilliard standing there. "Hey, Gilliard." She smiled at the sight of her friend.

"So _that's_ what Monkey Fist keeps in his forbidden chamber!" Gilliard stepped inside the room. "Junk leftovers of his failed schemes."

"Failed schemes?" RJ looked at the stone piece she was holding. "You mean... I'm holding a piece of the Jade Monkey Idols he used to get Mystical Monkey Power?"

"Before they got smashed." Gilliard took a look at her piece. "Wow. It must have been really ugly. Too bad he was unable to stitch the pieces together."

"An old computer..." RJ went through the junk. "Unused scrolls... A golden banana..."

"And all the early 21st century newspapers featuring his least favorite celebrities." Gilliard went through a pile of newspapers that sat on an old mahogany table. "'Teen Heroine's Sidekick Brings Out The Truth Behind Britain's Psychotic Monkey.' 'Team Possible Stop British Psycho at Middleton Space Center.' 'Kim Possible Beats Three Villains At Eiffel Tower.' 'The Girl Who Can Do Anything Takes Down Monkey Fist At Cheer-Off.' Oh, I remember that one! That's when he got mistaken for a lemur mascot!"

"'The girl who can do anything'?" RJ snorted as she picked up an old rusty African spear. "That's pure nonsense. We can do _some_ things, but not a _nything_."

"Tell that to the cheerleader who whacked most of last generation's villains in jail." Gilliard continued flipping through the newspapers.

"I never liked cheerleaders. TV has shown me that they are awfully pompous and dress like prostitutes, and my encounter with Mrs. Señor Senior Junior proves me well!"

"Oh, yeah! Martin told me how you used MMP to erupt tea on Rockwaller back in Cannes!" Gilliard noticed RJ making a rather unpleased face and putting down the spear. "You're still mad at Martin for putting the potion in you?"

"I guess I'm half mad." She shrugged. "I mean, it's not... great that he did it, but he did it in a time when we still... greatly disliked each other..." She groaned. "Gilliard, has it ever happened to you when one half of you dislikes somebody because they bug you and your other half doesn't it, but the problem is that you can't tell if you like him as a friend or... well..."

"You can't tell if you're crushing on Martin?" Gilliard whistled. "Man, I heard of twisted stalkers like Amelia, but an _insecure_ lover..."

"We're not lovers!" RJ waved her hand. "I... can't tell..." She sat down on an old armchair and sighed.

Gilliard pulled a stool and sat down next to RJ. "You know, I was with Martin when he researched on the potion. I thought he was being crazy and selfish for the first time by trying to get to some girl, but Martin seems to have changed an awful lot ever since you became his apprentice. The potion's supposed to make the man get what he deserves and the woman get what she wants. Initially, Martin thought he deserved _you_ , but his ego mellowing must mean that he actually deserved to be loved an not be lonely."

"But doesn't he have his parents and you?" RJ turned to look at the mutant.

"Apparently true love triumphs over parental love, Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch spend more time with each other than their son. As for me, with my own unpredictable parents, between spending my holidays with either of my folks or living with the Fiskes, I also go visit my friends at the Minalshari. Martin's too afraid of not fitting in, he makes himself more anti-social, but he seems to open up more now that he's spending time with you."

"And what about me? If this is what he deserves, what do I want?"

"That's for Fate to know and any of us to find out. In the meantime, we can settle with hoping that Martin will apologize to you and you can tell him that you're half-angry at him but half-forgive him. Then you just let things flow as they go, and hopefully you'll find out if you prefer him as a friend or as a boyfriend."

RJ blushed at that last word.

"Hey, maybe we can use the junk in here for fun uses!" Gilliard got up. "I bet Monkey Fist won't mind if we _recycle_ the stuff for proper uses."

"Excellent idea! Maybe we can throw old stuff away, keep useful ones, and turn this dump into a video gaming room!" RJ started going through the forest of old piled spears and rolled up Persian carpets. She managed to push them out of the way to create a passage... and to scream at the corner they were hiding. That one space had been converted into a area with articles push-pinned on the wall, several pictures of one particular person at different places covered in throwing darts, a stack of books, and the scariest part, a dummy hanging from the ceiling and completely impaled or scarred with weapons or bruises, as if Monkey Fist had been trying for years to kill the dummy of the person he was targeting.

"Take some deep breaths, RJ, it's just Monkey Fist's old hate shrine to Ron Stoppable." Gilliard patted RJ on the shoulders until she started calming down.

"How can one person have SO much hatred for one other person?" RJ exclaimed.

"Lord Fiske is insane." Gilliard shrugged and walked to the hate shrine. "Wow. I knew Monkey Fist hated the guy, but to the point of converting a room corner into a space where he could lash out a majority of his anger is quite the therapy. List of Stoppable's phobias, his times at Bueno Nacho, the flight record of his trip to Japan... Uh, I didn't know Monkey Fist also kept research details on Stoppable's education ethics, extracurricular capacities, and work accomplishments."

While Gilliard was busy ranting over the documents, RJ kept staring at the dummy. She felt horrible in the stomach when she saw the dummy of a blonde boy, ho appeared to be a teenager, getting intentionally harassed with a spear on his stomach, thousands of shurikens all the way down his spine, an ax sticking on his skull's crown, the legs were chopped and lying on the ground, and his neck had red lines traced everywhere. RJ covered her neck with a hand, trying her hardest not to imagine those red marks being on her neck and slicing through her flesh.

"Gilliard... H... How old was Ron Stoppable when he and Lord Fiske met?" RJ quivered.

"Sixteen, why?"

Now her stomach was turning. She covered her mouth and raced out of the chamber. "RJ, wait!" Gilliard ran out of the chamber to follow her, only to bump into Monkey Fist at the entrance.

"Gilliard! What are you doing in my forbidden chamber and why is the girl running like she's going to be sick?" The lord demanded.

"The door wasn't locked, so we explored... Oh, and RJ freaked out when she saw your hate shrine."

Monkey Fist peaked into the chamber to see his old shrine. "Oh, my hate zone! The days when I would spend hours trying to meditate on the right way to kill my worst enemy..." He sighed. "I actually miss Stoppable. With him in the shadows, I have nobody to challenge and it is quite not amusing."

"Because RJ getting scared by your hatred is better?" Gilliard asked. "RJ's already afraid -thanks to Melgo Lipsky paranoia- that you people would kill her because she's not a Fiske and she has MMP. The facts that she got briefly brainwashed into attempting to murder you and that she stumbled on your shrine to try killing your teenage foe, does not help our situation."

"So? Just because she isn't a Fiske but is a blonde with Mystical Monkey Power doesn't make her an enemy," Monkey Fist said.

"You used to think that only you deserved the power."

"Until I met the woman that would become my bride and the mother of my heir," Monkey Fist pointed out. "When you live things like I have, Gilliard, you come to realize two things: one, it's fine to have the power _if_ you aren't a monkey-phobic, and B, a partnership with somebody you can relate to on such terms is ideal."

"So you're not really preoccupied by the fact that your son and the girl who nearly killed you might be growing sparks?" Gilliard said. "And make the note that I said 'sparks'. There's no confirmation yet that the feeling is mutual."

Monkey Fist nodded. "Martin's hitting dummies in the dojo as we speak. I still can't believe that my own child would rely on magic to court a young lady! It's more of DNAmy's posible tactics if _she_ were doing it."

"RJ's not like the Halls, she can't even tell if she likes Martin as a friend or as... you know..."

"Daydreaming of a romantic partnership?"

"I was going to say 'boyfriend', but sure, let's go with that."

"There's just one thing that sets me off the clock. Before she attacked me, I started getting this strange sensation down my spine. It was as if I was reliving a bad déjà vu... Something about this girl doesn't seem right..."

"Everybody feels that way." Gilliard shrugged. "She comes out of nowhere, she was cooped up in an apartment and never got to leave until she ran away, she only interacted with her grandmother until now, and she has unstable Mystical Monkey Power."

"No." The simian villain shook his head. "It's like I was reliving a bad moment of my life. I never met RJ in my life, yet she seems... familiar."

"Gee, you're starting to act like Shego. Back at the potluck, I spotted RJ getting punch from the buffet table and Shego freaked out before she served RJ."

"Shego reacted as well?" Monkey Fist asked. He raised his eyes to the ceiling when he heard footsteps coming their way. He quickly grabbed Gilliard and dragged the boy out the chamber. His hand pulled out a monkey key that shut the door tight and the men straightened up. Luckily, it was just RJ looking a bit green.

"Did you lose a lot from your stomach, RJ?" Gilliard asked worriedly.

"What do you think?" she asked sourly.

"That you're never going to put your foot in this chamber?" Monkey Fist pointed at the door he had just locked.

"More like I don't know anymore how much time I have until I die."

Gilliard and Monkey Fist widened their eyes in surprise. "RJ!" The fish boy exclaimed.

"He had a dangling dummy of a sixteen-year-old with MMP! Give me a reason to not freak out and expect the worst!"

"Oh-kay, I think somebody got too dehydrated in the toilet. Let me take you back to your room." Gilliard guided RJ back upstairs, leaving the lord of the castle quite baffled.

RJ feared him even though she barely met him? 


	23. Fiske Game Night and Mentality

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 23: Fiske Game Night and Mentality

 _So, you are dating a teenage girl and you messed with her big time. If you are a jerk who cares only about himself, stop reading this. If you indeed regret what you did, you need to express your apologies in a way that proves to the girl that you are both sincere about it and you care deeply about her._

 _Here are some ideas for how to apologize:_

 _1.) Along with 'I'm sorry, give her a gift as an additional token of sincerity. It must be something she's interested in. It could be her favorite flowers, preferred treats, or take her to do an activity that you know she would love._

 _2.) Admit to her in the most guilty way possible that though she has every right to leave you for another guy, you really enjoy the time you spend together. Tell her the pros about her personality and talents._

 _3.) If you are very embarrassed to talk to her about it, write her a letter._

"I'd go with the gift."

Martin yelped at the sudden presence of his mother. God knows how long she had been spying on him using the family computer in the dojo. "Mother! How long have you been spying on me..."

"Relying on the advice of a relationship website? Probably ten minutes." She leaned over and turned off the computer. She watched her son sigh and slowly turn his chair so that he wouldn't have to face his mother. "You know, Martin, this is the first time I've ever seen you in such a state."

"Begging Internet to help me?" Martin asked slyly. He felt his chair turn by her hand.

"No. _In love._ "

And the sorceress knew she was right. Her son didn't even protest at her suggestion. "Son, no one said it was going to be easy."

"I knew love was never easy, I just hoped that I wouldn't have to deal with it!" Martin stormed off his chair. "You and Father were so intertwined with each other ever since you started going out and eventually marry, you willingly left _me_ alone for seven years just because you two got tricked by the Yono!"

"Martin Montgomery Fiske..." his mother warned.

"I mean, why did you _both_ have to deal with the Yono? Was it so hard to have just one of you deal with the demon so that in case that backfired, the other would survive and go back home to be with me? So that I wouldn't be alone for seven years straight? And to make matters worse, when it didn't come to training me, you still spend more time with each other rather than me for the next fourteen years!" His knees fell on the cold floor of the dojo and he did something unimaginable.

He began to cry. His mother bent down to hug him. "I... I was afraid that if _I_ fell in love and was in a relationship just like yours..."

"Say no more." For the next five minutes, they just sat there, hugging until the tears dried out of Martin. The Simian Witch's denim eyes popped open and she got up, snapping her fingers. "I know exactly how to solve this!"

 _An hour later_

She slapped the board game onto the coffee table of some anti-chamber. "Alright, everyone! Time for Fiske Game Night!"

" _My Simianopoly_?" RJ read the red lettered word on the cover.

"Manufactured by yours truly." The Simian Witch grinned. She snapped her fingers and the game unfolded onto the table. Red and black cards were shuffled and placed at the center of the board on red and black sections for 'TREASURE' and 'OBSTACLE DARE' respectively. Six figurines based on six different simian species were placed on the table and Monkey Fist instantly took the bin full of fake cash and began to distribute it evenly among the five players.

"So is this some kind of monkey-themed monopoly?" RJ asked as she went through her fake bills. All the bills of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 500 had images of monkey artifacts, Monkey Fist, the Simian Witch, and Martin.

"Sorta." Gilliard pointed at the board cases to give RJ some clues. "'Go' refers to birth or when they came back from Yono. Land on any of the 'memories' and you can purchase them. Get all three memories from one time period and you can charge any lander with as much cash as you want. The 'Obstacle Cards' are for when you land on a black section of the board and you can dare another player to do whatever the card says to do, and they have to do unless they pay $50 for bailing or have a shielding card. If the other player has a shielding card, then _you_ have to do the card's dare. If you get 'TREASURE', you go to the nearest memory holding a treasure and take it. Same rules as in the 'OBSTACLE' Cards. The game only ends when one player manages to make the others broke."

"Sounds understandable."

"I have dibs on the gorilla figurine!" Martin snatched the figure in question until his father sneakily took the figure out of his hands. "Hey!"

"Sorry son. Gorilla is for winners only," Monkey Fist said with a smirk.

"Lord Fiske always wins at this game," Gilliard whispered to RJ.

They all picked their pieces: Monkey Fist took a gorilla, the Simian Witch went with a chimpanzee, Martin had a baboon, Gilliard shrugged and accepted a spider monkey, and RJ settled with a marmoset.

"Bigger number goes first!" The Simian Witch tossed the dice onto the board. "Ten. Not bad."

Gilliard and Martin got lesser numbers. Monkey Fist got an eleven. They stared at RJ, who took the dice and brought her hand to her cheek level before tossing them onto the board.

" _Twelve?_ " Monkey Fist dropped his jaw.

"So do I go twelve spaces or do I need to spin again?" RJ asked.

"You go forward," Gilliard said.

RJ moved her piece forward and landed on the memory tile of when the third Jade Monkey Idol got dug out...

 _Thirty minutes later_

... and by now she had succeeded in winning most of the money and treasures and pulled out enough money from the others.

"I can't believe it!" Martin surrendered his last fake bill and quit the game as the first one to run out of money. "Even with a newbie, I'm still the first to lose!"

"Not my fault if I played Monopoly a lot," RJ shrugged.

Monkey fist rolled his dice and landed onto OBSTACLE. "'Dare someone to get shipped off on a space rocket.'"

"This actually happened to you?" RJ asked.

"It's one of his follies that I never knew about until after we were married." The Simian Witch sighed.

"Silvia, I dare you to take the obstacle," her husband dared. She groaned and eventually gave up when she became the next one to run out of money. So far, RJ felt comfortable playing this game and was second after Monkey Fist to make more cash. She rolled the dice and landed on TREASURE.

"Sweet. Get half of your remaining opponents' cash," she grinned.

"Yeah, I give up." Gilliard pushed his dollar bills and cards towards RJ's side and slouched on his seat to get amore comfortable, relaxing pose. Monkey Fist muttered something as he handed his half to RJ, making her economically equal to him.

"Try not to lose, Father," Martin said as he drank from his cup of Earl Grey.

"I never lose," Monkey Fist said.

"Only at taking over the world," RJ smirked. The lord dropped his jaw. The Simian Witch covered his jaw to prevent herself from giggling out loud. "Dude, total burn!" Gilliard fist-bumped RJ. Martin laughed at the joke RJ had pulled on his own father, not knowing that his mother was smiling at him. For once, he was laughing at a joke.

Monkey Fist landed on another OBSTACLE card. "All-in. Any kicked out opponent can challenge the remaining players into doing impressions. First one to crack loses and must surrender all his money to the winner."

"OOH, OOH!" Martin waved his hand in the air. "RJ, I dare you to imitate Bonnie Rockwaller!"

"Ugh. Before or after I blasted tea on her?" RJ asked.

"AFTER!" They all said eagerly.

RJ took a deep breath and screamed. "AAH! My dress! My Elsa Cleeg Priority Zephyr dress! What is wrong with you?" She mimicked the whiny voice of the woman and waved her fists in the air.

They couldn't resist laughing. "This is SO Senior's daughter-in-law!" Monkey Fist snickered.

"I still can't believe that you managed to use the MMP to turn a tea kettle full of hot tea into a geyser!" Gilliard chuckled.

"To be fair... she deserved it," RJ shrugged.

Martin's eyes widened. "You thought she deserved it and you aren't complaining about not being normal? _Who are you and what have you done with RJ?"_

They continued laughing on during the night.

 _The next morning_

RJ pulled the curtains from the window of the bedchamber she had slept in. The sky was grey, but not a disgusting grey like when it rains but a pleasant gray when the temperature's nice and you don't have too much sunshine. The Fiske Estate in England did not have the same Alpinian view as the castle back in the Alps, but at least it gave a view of the English countryside.

As soon as she showered and changed into her training uniform (honestly, she didn't know what to expect), she went downstairs. At least today, she wasn't bound to be as lost as she had been yesterday. Luckily, a pleasant aroma came from the kitchen and her nostrils lead her to the door. She opened it to find the Simian Witch making pancakes.

"Ladies first always wins," the woman joked. She flipped the pan and the pancake she was frying flew in the air. Her left long stood out, making her look like a ballerina, and kicked the table so that a plate would fly and have the pancake land on it. RJ yelped and jumped, catching the plate in success.

"That's some way to cook pancake!" RJ gasped.

"Thank you, I try my hardest." The Simian Witch nodded.

RJ sat down on the table. "I'm surprised you're cooking. I thought you had Kronos or monkey ninjas or that valet Martin talked about."

"You mean Bates?" The Simian Witch sighed. "Bates went to attend his nephew's wedding in Netherfield, but he hasn't come back yet. In fact, Monty just left early this morning to drive all the way there to see if Bates' doing well."

"I hope nothing bad happened to your va... I mean, Mr. Bates."

"We personally hope so. Bates has been the family valet of the Fiskes ever since Monty was born."

"Seriously? He's been working here for nearly fifty years? He must be as old as Señor Senior!"

"Maybe a decade or two, but close enough." The teakettle whistled and the Simian Witch poured its boiling contents into two teacups holding Earl Grey tealeaves. "But we have nothing to worry. Today's focus will be a bit more practical."

"My MMP?" RJ guessed.

"Indeed." The sorceress snapped her fingers and spoons flew out of the cupboards to stir the leaves well. "Based on what I managed to conclude so far from the given information and the things I noticed, you are hopelessly emotionally weak."

"Gee, thanks." RJ drank her tea.

"Don't get me wrong, you are well-leveled in the Tai Shing Pek Kwar training and you've meditated enough to gain patience, but you still lack control of your emotions. They are stuck in a scale of uncertainty and can't seem to decide which emotion goes where inside your head. And because of that uncertainty, your power sees advantage." The Simian Witch sat across her.

"Does it happen often in your family? When you have to deal with a member with out of control powers because he or she is emotionally unstable?"

"I never got to find out," the Simian Witch sighed as she stirred her tea. "You see, you and my husband are not quite like my son and I. You have your powers for unknown reasons and my husband was never capable of actually harnessing his power."

"You're joking." RJ frowned.

"Hanuman curse me to Hell if I lie. Monty has had the power through the Jade idols since he was thirty-six and I never saw him use it even after we were married. Worst case scenario is that he can't use the power even though he has it. But back to my topic. While you and my husband have your problems, Martin and I are capable of controlling ours. My family has followed traditions and rules for the proper training of the next Simian Witch. But the training doesn't start until the power officially wakes up on their sixteenth birthday and they spend the next several years training in the discipline until they are finally ready."

"What are those traditions?" RJ asked, curious.

"Pretty lame ones. Only marry or give birth to someone from the Year of the Monkey. Start your training at sixteen. Name your child after an ancestor or relative of the opposite gender... Sadly, after unexpected turns of events led me to being locked up in an asylum for six years and my family was killed during my imprisonment, some rule breaking had to be done. My grandfather had to turn several years of training into two years of hell and I decided to not wait until Martin turned sixteen but when he was eight."

"Ouch." RJ grimaced. "And how did you get your MMP unleashed?"

"Rage."

"And your family?"

"Apparently, most of the time it was either the power unleashed itself randomly or strong emotions caused it to wake. And don't get your hopes. I did have relatives who were powerless or didn't have children to continue the legacy."

"The power wasn't passed on?"

The sorceress shook her head. "MMP is instantly hereditary. You, Martin, and I are cases where we have MMP because we were born from someone who possesses it. My grandfather had it, my mother had it, I have, and Martin has."

"And I don't know who I got mine from," RJ sighed.

"Perhaps we'll know." The Simian Witch cleared the table. RJ helped her clean the dishes.

 _Minutes later, in the Fiske Estate Library_

"OK, let's find a simplistic exercise." The Simian Witch searched through the books until she pulled out a cyan blue book. She brought it to a clear desk and waited for her and RJ to sit down before she could open it. The pages were full of nothing but colorful stains. "The purpose of this exercise is for you to describe what you see..." The Simian Witch placed a black rock on the desk. "... and make your MMP affect the rock depending on what you feel."

RJ looked uncertainly at the rock. The Simian Witch opened up to two pages with red stains. "What do you see?" The woman asked.

RJ leaned forward on her chair and blinked. "I see... A room that looks very familiar. Yeah, I think it's Amelia's room..." RJ chuckled and the rock suddenly had a blue aura as its edges smoothed out. "I think I'm seeing the scene where I gave Amelia the microchip so that I could get Martin away from me!" She stopped laughing when she saw the Simian Witch staring at her. RJ gulped. "I kind of got creeped out by Martin the first week I knew him and I gave Amelia a microchip to put on him to force him to leave me alone."

"Disturbing..." The Simian Witch wrote things down and turned the pages to blue-stained ones. "Now, what do you see?"

"I see... the Bueno Nacho where Melgo and I had dinner during the time she found out I had MMP. In the stains... we're having the conversation when she told me the accident that led to her powers and I told her 'I don't mind having a blue friend with green plasma powers as my first friend ever since I put my foot in the real world.'" The rock changed into a smooth sphere.

"And what about now?"

Pink stained pages. RJ blushed. "I see nothing."

"Liar."

"But it's embarrassing!"

"I don't care." Man, the woman knew how to give tough love.

RJ sighed, feeling humiliated. "I see the gazebo from the May Day Cotillion and... the talk." The rock began to move in waves.

"You have a moment of uncertainty. I need details," the Simian Witch pushed. "Whom did you talk to?"

"Martin." RJ gulped. "He noticed I was feeling off and I admitted to him that while I had moments of disliking him... I couldn't tell what to make out of my moments liking him, especially since he's my teacher..."

"Time out!" the sorceress chuckled. "You're telling me that you told _my son_ that you couldn't figure out if you liked him as a friend or as a _boyfriend_? Why wasn't there a camera when this happened?"

"Yes, because fourteen years alone and homeschooled gave me any idea on relationships," RJ said drily.

"And how did he respond?" The Simian Witch looked at the teenager with curiosity.

"Well he did tell me that he had all the time in the world and... tried to give me a little piece of encouragement." Since she was too nervous to say the words themselves, RJ just tapped her finger onto her mouth. It only took five seconds for the Simian Witch to see what RJ mean and to then put her hand on her forehead and drag it down her face in exasperation.

"Great Hanuman, that boy knows nothing about courting..." She shook her head and went back to her notes. "Based on the rock's formations, your power increases or decreases depending on your emotions. When you have a laughing emotion or one related to friends, thus positive feelings, the MMP smoothens and your health stable. But when it starts to shape the rock into a geometrical shape, it is trying to imprison your uncertain emotions. For instance, you can't tell what to make out of your positive emotions for my son."

RJ stared at the witch. "Is that bad?"

"Depends on how time turns out for you." The Simian Witch flipped through some pages and opened it to show abstract stains covering them. "We're now going to do a second level of exercise. It will show the depth of your emotions depending on what you see. I must warn you, you might see memories that you personally don't remember."

"You mean like in my subconscious?" RJ asked.

"Perhaps. Now tell me what you see."

RJ looked at the pages. She even had to take the book to get a better view of the black stains seemingly hypnotizing her. "I... I think I see my grandmother's apartment. But it can't be my grandmother's apartment... Everything looks new. The couch is the same, but not so worn out and without the stitches that Grandma put on the tears." The rock was starting to agitate and melt.

"You're entering your subconscious," the Simian Witch. "You might be seeing something that happened to you but you were too young to remember..."

The Simian Witch's voice began to fade away and RJ found herself standing in a black-and-white ghostly version of the apartment. As she said, it was newer, but when RJ tried touching the windows, they only made popping sounds of echoing drops of water.

Voices got her attention. She turned and saw the black-and-white version of her grandmother, who looked like she was ten years younger. RJ watched as her grandmother spoke to a man whose face was covered by fog and his hands were cradling a toddler.

' _You know what... said,...'_ RJ couldn't hear the names that her grandmother was saying. The environment was fogging the names up.

 _'... doesn't have to know. You know I can't bear to part with Ronilda. ... and I are planning to part until things are confirmed to be safe, but I could take Ronilda with me. I could keep her safe and our family wouldn't be torn apart!'_

 _'But you would lose your wife's trust in you?'_ Ronilda's grandmother asked sharply. ' _I understand how you feel. It's awfully difficult for any parent to purposely separate with their child, but you heard... . It's for Ronilda's own good.'_

 _'... is paranoid! I would never tell it to her face, but do you honestly expect me to just walk away and leave my daughter like this? In this prison?'_ The toddler began to agitate in the man's arms. The latter shushed her down gently and brought her to her crib. RJ watched as the fog head kissed the child on the forehead and made his way to the door. ' _You'd better keep her safe.'_

' _I will_ ,' RJ's grandmother promised.

' _Because mark my words, if I find out that Ronilda finds some way out of the penthouse and she's in some sort of trouble, I will do whatever it takes to find her, and when it happens, I'M NOT LETTING HER GO!'_

The figure slammed the door and RJ popped her eyes open back in the Fiske library. She turned her sweating head to see the rock practically melted. "I... I saw my dad," she told the Simian Witch.

"Your father?" The Simian Witch frowned.

"Yes! Well, I saw a male figure with his head covered in fog who called me his daughter, but everytime he and my grandma talked, I heard fuzzy stuff instead of names. It's like... something doesn't want me to know who they are talking about, who's my dad, and what he looked like. But he was trying to urge my grandma to let him keep me. He..." For the first time in her life, RJ found herself smiling when talking about her mysterious parents. "My dad never wanted to abandon me. He swore he'd find me and never let me go."

The Simian Witch smiled. She closed the book and put it back on the shelf. "Your father was probably the parent that you inherited your powers from."

"You don't think I could have gotten it from my mother? I mean, when they were talking about her in my memory, they made it sound like she was paranoid about my safety."

"Many non-magical parents are like that." The Simian Witch used her powers to turn the melted rock back into a solid one. "Take my family for instance. All the Simian Witches' spouses came from outside of the family and they were all humans. My mother had MMP through my grandfather but she married my father, a mortal businessman, and had me and my older sister. Normally the family members with MMP understand each other more and the older members are devoted to the young one's education. The relationships with the other members can vary. It only makes sense that you are beginning to remember your father because of your blood connection harvesting the power."

"And my mom?"

They made their way out of the library. "Mortal. Human. Very likely to not comprehend the powers as well as your father did," the sorceress said.

RJ nodded grimly.

"Did I say something wrong?" The Simian Witch asked.

"No, it's just... It seems like in the memory, my grandma and my dad were implying that it was my mom's idea to be sheltered with no outside connections. My dad was telling my grandma against my idea, but she was telling against breaking his wife's trust."

"You mean he wanted to take you without consulting her?" The Simian Witch's eyes widened. She rubbed her chin in thought. "Indeed, it would make sense if your human parent insisted on insane protection... And to leave you in your grandmother's care and the latter refusing your father to take you, it must mean that you were raised by your maternal grandmother."

"And the fog on Dad's head?"

"You were very young when this memory occurred. It is only fitting that you don't remember your father's appearance but you could only see your grandmother because you've been living with her throughout your life."

RJ sighed. "Maybe my mom was too terrified of me to keep me."

"No, don't start believing that!" The Simian Witch exclaimed and put a hand on RJ's shoulders. "Many parents do crazy things to protect their children. I'm sure your mother only wanted to keep you safe."

"Keep _me_ safe or keep _others_ safe?" RJ made a point that the sorceress could not answer.

 _Meanwhile, in the dojo_

Martin flipped through the London magazines before finally closing them and rolling them up. "You're sure it's going to work?" he asked Gilliard.

"Only one way to find out, dude," the fish boy patted him on the back. It was close to lunchtime and the boys made their way up the secret passage and into the dining hall. The women had come before them and were helping Kronos set the table for four people, but there was no sign of Martin's father.

"Mother, where has father gone off to?" Martin asked the Simian Witch.

"He went to Netherfield to check on Bates." The woman noticed the magazines tucked under his arm. "I see you boys have been cleaning the mess you left down in the dojo weeks ago."

"Look on the bright side," Gilliard joked, "with all the insects it attracted, you won't have another castle cobweb in the castle."

The telephone rang from the hallway. The Simian Witch excused herself and made her way out to answer. A brief awkward moment of silence reigned in the dining room until Gilliard gave Martin a literal push. The dark-haired British scoundrel found himself at an awkward five feet space between himself and RJ.

"So... how was morning with my mother?" He asked. His fingers fidgeted nervously. Luckily enough for him, RJ was distracted by admiring the fancy crystal glasses with vine trimmings on the necks to notice.

"Mental exercises and an unexpected visit in my subconscious." RJ turned away from the glasses to look at the boys. "You're not going to believe it, but I ended up finding out that A, I got the power from my dad and B, my mother was a paranoid who came up with the idea of me being stuck in the penthouse in the first place."

"That is... commonly expected from mothers," Martin said nervously.

RJ frowned at Martin and asked Gilliard in a confused tone while pointing at Martin: "Is this Martin Fiske? I feel like I'm talking to a socially awkward geek from a high school musical."

"Wouldyoulikemetotakeyoutolondonforyourbirthdaythiswednesday," Martin muttered.

"AR-ti-cu-la-TUH!" Gilliard hissed.

"R...J...Would... you...like..."

"NOT LITERALLY, YOU WALKING BABBOON!"

"Is... everything alright?" RJ asked in concern.

"RJ, would like me to take you to London for your birthday?"

Now those words, she understood properly. RJ had to turn to make sure she was looking at his shadowy grey eyes speaking truthfully. "London? For my birthday?"

"Well... I know that nothing will justify how I've been treating you in the past month," he said, "but would I be able to make it up to you by taking you for a full-day in London... and taking you to the top of Big Ben at night?"

The last words really hit RJ, she had to bite her lips to prevent herself from breaking the glass windows. At least her smile was so wide, it went up to her eyes.

"RJ?" Martin asked in worry. She hugged him and placed a kiss on his cheek, making him blush and drop on the floor like a grinning stone statue with red stains on its cheeks.

"There!" Gilliard chuckled. "Was that so hard?"

"I can't believe it!" RJ clapped her hands. "London! Big Ben! For my birthday!"

"Oh, he's got it planned for you. Eye of London ride, stroll in Baker Street, boat ride on the Thames River, a presentation of MACBETH at the Globe Theater, and a tour of Buckingham Palace, and the day ending with a night view of London from Big Ben!"

"What's all this on London?" The Simian Witch stepped back in the dining room right when Martin got his senses back and stood up.

"I'm redeeming myself by taking RJ to London for her birthday this Wednesday," Martin said.

"That sounds excellent, but let's hope it doesn't get cancelled because of the new spontaneous plan."

"What spontaneous plan?"

"Martin," his mother sighed. "I just got off the phone with your father. Bates is suffering from pneumonia."


	24. Netherfield Cures

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 24: Netherfield Cures

It only took five minutes for them to all change and the Simian Witch teleported them to Netherfield while leaving Kronos in charge of the castle. They arrived in a small neighborhood with spaced bricked houses and stoned sidewalks. To fit the dreading atmosphere, it was beginning to rain as they made their way to the brown-bricked house bordering a park, the home of Bates' nephew.

"Stay calm and patient when we get inside the house," the Simian Witch said. "In his condition, Bates needs lesser excitement."

"Did Lord Fiske give details on how Bates got pneumonia?" RJ asked. "I read that it often happens due to smoking, bacteria, or diabetes."

"Bates never smoked. But I guess we can assume that my husband dragging him in all his explorations for years must have worn him out."

"Hopefully the family got a doctor that can provide a vaccine."

They barely opened the garden gate when a homeless woman in rags came waving her stick at them. "Traitor!" She screamed in her raspy tone.

"Keep walking and ignore her," the Simian Witch told the teenagers quietly. They did so, but RJ was the last one to make her way in and the old hag purposely shoved her on the ground.

"Hey!" She exclaimed.

"Traitor!" The hag raised her stick and began to beat RJ on the face with it. "Traitor! You should be dead like the others! Why are you still alive? Only traitors deserved death!"

"Back off!" Martin grabbed the lady and shoved her aside. He helped RJ stand up and he took her towards the house, closing the gate behind them. The hag continued on shouting before she eventually decided to make her way off.

"What the heck was wrong with her?" RJ rubbed her cheek. The door opened and a chubby woman greeted them.

"Lady Fiske and her company?" She asked.

"It is she," the Simian Witch nodded.

"Your husband warned us that you were coming. I am Dora, the family maid. Please, go upstairs and..." Dora caught sight of the stick bruises RJ had on her face. "Goodness! Did Helga Ottoski do this?"

"You mean the creepy witch with the stick?" Gilliard asked. "She went loony and gave RJ a beating."

"Oh, Lord! Listen, why don't you three go upstairs to the third door on the right and I'll give this one an ice pack?" The others complied and while they went upstairs, Dora led RJ into the first floor kitchen. She had RJ sit down and searched through the freezer for an ice pack. "I hope you didn't get too harsh beats."

"What was wrong with that woman?" RJ asked. "I barely meet her and she hits me with a stick!"

"You're not the first." Dora wrapped the ice pack in a paper towel and gently tapped it on RJ's bruises. "She does it to a lot of Jewish folks she meets."

"Is she an old Nazi or something?" RJ grimaced. She paused. "Wait. What made her think that I was Jewish?"

"You aren't?"

"No...well... I'm not sure." RJ briefly recalled her chat with Dementor back in Cannes, who had told her that he could tell she was half-Catholic and half-Jew. "What does Ms. Ottoski have against Jewish people?"

Dora handed her the ice pack and RJ continued tapping her bruises while Dora started taking out a cooking pot and putting it on the stove. "Helga Ottoski is a Holocaust survivor. She was very little when her parents put her in Kindertransport to live with a family friend in Netherfield. She and many other Jewish children were sent to England to be spared from prosecution before the war started. When it ended, Helga became traumatized and lost it when she learned that none of her relatives survived."

"That's terrible," RJ said sadly.

"Indeed, and it was quite common for many of the Kindertransport children to be the only remaining members of their families. But Helga Ottoski was more than angry enough when she was forced to see her peers happily reuniting with their surviving families, going home or to America. She went on to become a recluse beating those that she called 'traitors' because their families outlived or outlive hers."

RJ sighed. She felt pity for the woman. She got up and put the ice pack back in the freezer. She turned to Dora. "Can I help with anything?"

"If you'd like," Dora said. "I'm making for our poor patient his favorite mushroom soup. You can help me gather the ingredients."

RJ nodded. She helped Dora gather the mushrooms, salt, onions, butter, thyme, garlic, chicken broth, water, black pepper, and bay leaves. The two women diced the mushrooms and onions and sautéed them while the water boiled in the pot.

"I forgot his vitamin capsules," Dora said. "I'll be right back, dear." She left the kitchen.

RJ went over the recipe. "I guess I can at least blend the broth and thyme together." She grabbed a bowl and placed it on the counter. Her fingers nearly uncorked the broth bottle.

 _Don't._

RJ froze. She looked around and saw nobody in the kitchen. "Who's there?" She asked.

 _Bates might not survive his pneumonia,_ an unfamiliar voice spoke and echoed in the kitchen. _Trust me and follow my guidance._

"How do I know you aren't going to trick me?" She asked.

 _I have faith in you, Ronilda. The same way I had faith in your father._

RJ widened her eyes at the mention of her full name and her father. She tried to listen, but the voice vanished. When she looked down at the table, she saw a tiny scroll with writing on it.

"'Replace the thyme and broth with lavender and olive oil and mix them directly with the water and salt,'" she read. "'Only use half of garlic portion. Reduce amount of butter. Remove black pepper and replace bay leaves with rosemary.'" She checked the door again. Dora still hadn't returned. RJ prayed that her conscience or MMP wasn't playing tricks on her.

She went through the cupboards and fridge to find the replacements she needed. The lavender was chopped and blended with the olive oil before she poured the new purplish green fluid into the boiling water. She diced half of the recipe's garlic and mixed it with the sautéed vegetables before dropping them and the rosemary into the pot. The soup began to swirl in the pot and changed from its purplish green color to a deceitful brown, the right color for mushroom soup. She dropped only a quarter teaspoon size of butter into the soup. As RJ let the soup sit, she put the items back in their place and searched for a nice bowl until she settled for a white on with silver olive branch patterns. By the time Dora came back with the vitamins, RJ was pouring soup into the bowl.

"I keep forgetting where those blasted vitamins go," Dora said. She grabbed a tray and placed the bowl and vitamins on top of it.

 _Seconds later_

Bates was coughing and stuck in bed. His forehead was sweating from the illness he now had. Monkey Fist and Martin were the only ones besides the doctor who bothered to be closest to him despite his coughing.

"He might not make it," the doctor said grimly. "At his age, the pneumonia might take every last breath of him. I'd say he has about four days left. At most."

"Bates..." Monkey Fist looked like he wanted to cry but he couldn't.

"Nobody lasts forever, master..." Bates coughed. The door knocked and Gilliard opened it to let Dora in. The maid carried a tray bearing vitamins and soup.

Gilliard sniffed while Dora served the soup to Bates. The fish-boy mutant tapped the shoulder of the monkey-boy mutant. "Can you smell the soup?" He whispered.

Martin arched an eyebrow. He took a discreet sniff while Bates stirred in his bowl and coughing blew on his spoon. "I smell nothing. Odd."

Bates brought the spoon to his mouth. As he gulped and let the soup go down his throat, he frowned, confused.

"Is something wrong?" the doctor asked.

"The soup... tastes like water."

"That's because one of the ingredients is water," Dora smiled.

"No." Bates shook his head. "It tastes like water. Nothing...AAAH!"

He breathed so deeply, everyone feared that he was having his finally deep breath. Bates' inhaling got deep and then he began to breathe normally. His chest moved and his lungs pumped normally. The strangest thing then happened. His wrinkles began to smoothen, his hair darkened, and Bates ended up turning back into the healthy man he was twenty years ago. The valet was so stunned, he had to get out of bed and walk normally to see the miracle reflecting upon him.

"Fascinating!" He exclaimed.

"Why, it's a medical miracle!" The doctor clapped.

Dora was so confused. She grabbed the spoon and tasted whatever was left of the spoon. "Bates was not lying. The soup tastes entirely like water. Even the vegetables taste like water!" Her eyes widened and she clasped her hands close to her heart. "The angel!"

"Pardon?" Monkey Fist asked. Martin, in the meantime, gleefully hugged Bates.

"The girl that your wife brought along with the boys!" Dora was getting excited. "She finished the soup right before I came back from fetching Bates' vitamins! She made the soup! If the soup cured Bates while it tasted like water, she must have made holy water! Praise the Lord, Lord Fiske! It must be a sign if the Lord sent you one of his followers!"

 _Meanwhile_

There used to be a pond where ducks would come swimming some feet away from the house and shrouded by willows. Today, it had been completely dried out until RJ dunked the remains of the enchanted soup into the soil. As she sat down on the grass, the strange soup converted the pond into its younger version. A duck and her ducklings came waddling their way in and swam again. RJ chuckled at the sight of the ducklings splashing onto the water.

She didn't react when she sensed the presence of Helga Ottoski resting her old bones on the ground and sitting next to the young girl. The old crone pulled out crumbs of bread and threw them into the pond for the ducks to come after them.

"You did good," the crone said. "I saw it happen at the window and you did it with the pond. You cured the ill man and the old man."

"Is it bad? That I brought to life things that were close to death?" RJ asked.

"It's only bad if they deserved death. A man should deserve to die in his sleep than in sickness and a pond deserves to die when it turns into a lake rather than drying out." Helga looked at RJ. "You did not deserve my beating, child. To that, I'm sorry."

RJ said nothing. She merely nodded and looked at her rippled reflection.

"You feel confused, don't you?" the crone guessed.

"I heard you hit people you deemed as traitors, especially when their families lived and yours didn't. I never knew my family... barely much... but how did you manage to figure out that I was half-Jewish?"

"Voices."

"You too?"

"Probably not the same as you. With that witchcraft you did, I'll guess you communicate with neutral spirits, but with me, I hear voices everywhere." The crone tilted her head up. Breezes were blowing into the willow branches. RJ noticed that Helga Ottoski was actually _listening_ to the sounds of the wind breathing through the willows.

"You can understand nature? That's so cool," she said.

"Eh. It's a hermit thing. Stay single and a recluse for seven decades and you can hear a lot. Do a similar thing with patience and the birds will carry you the thoughts of others. When you arrived, they carried me your thoughts and it summed well. You still have your full family... _and you left them._ "

"I didn't leave them!" RJ snapped. She calmed down. "I'm sorry. It's just... I was left alone with my grandmother all my life and I had to run away to start a new one. I then find out that I'm half-Jew, half-Catholic, and that out of the two parents who left me with my grandmother and never appeared again, my dad was the only one who didn't want to abandon me."

"Naturally." Helga Ottoski threw her last breadcrumb into the crumb. "Out of all the caring parents in the world, fathers are the most towards their daughters. Abandoning you? Your father must have ended up heartbroken." Helga lowered her head. "I know. My Papa had a similar reaction back in Germany. We had a close relationship and he was the only one who did not want to see me leave, but my Mama and Grandpapa told him that placing me in Kindertransport to England was the safest solution."

RJ shed a tear of sympathy. Judging by all the history books she had read, she didn't have to ask how they perished.

Helga Ottoski pulled out a teardrop shaped and sized vial out of her ragged coat, trotted to the pond, and bent down as she could to collect some water into the vial. She took a slow turn and unfolded RJ's hands, placed the vial onto the palms, and refolded the fingers on top of it. "For when you want your memories cured, Ronilda."

"How did you know my..." RJ looked up to see that Helga Ottoski had vanished. "Typical." She looked at the vial.

The crone had suggested that RJ drink the holy water to 'cure her memories' and called her by her actual first name. Should she do it? The holy water might have cured Bates, but she didn't know if the same would apply to her.

"For crying out loud..." She uncorked the vial and let the liquid slide down her throat. At first, it felt like nothing. It was like drinking regular tap water. The normal feeling disintegrated when the water stung the inside of her stomach. She held her woozy head up and blinked as the horizon started to blur. It blurred the same way food coloring does when it drops into water and dissolves. The horizon blurred and turned into a purple living room. Adults were sitting on a mauve couch. Two of them were drinking coffee while the third was holding an infant in his arms. The baby could only be a few weeks old, given how the white blankets stuffed the baby in a little cloud and only her tiny head stuck out. A six-year-old Asian girl in a lavender dress was sticking out her finger for the baby to hold in one of her hands.

RJ groaned at the memory. Unlike the first memory she witnessed earlier today, this one was in colors, but her father's head was still shrouded in fog. At least the fog was blond.

" _See, Ronilda_?" She heard the familiar voice of her father speak. " _This is my sister, Hana. She's your aunt._ "

" _Hi._ " Hana slipped her finger out of baby Ronilda's hand and slid it bellow the baby's chin. The baby Ronilda giggled as Hana tickled.

" _That's enough, Hana._ " One of the other adults, a short, pudgy man with greyed blonde hair and glasses, chided Hana. The Asian girl merely giggled and went to sit between him and the remaining adult, a tall, lean woman also with glasses and a similar hair color. The woman made sure that her coffee didn't spill onto her daughter as she hugged her.

" _How's ... recovering ever since she went into labor?_ " Much to RJ's exasperation, even in this memory, she couldn't hear her mother's name.

" _She's been doing well. Though she had to come up with a cover story to tell to her colleagues about why she needed a nine month absence,_ " the memory of RJ's father said.

" _Really? What did she come with?_ " the old man asked.

" _Doing a tour and giving lectures in diplomacy schools, assisting schools, mentoring..."_ The memory of RJ's father noticed that a plushed monkey was laying on the floor and his infant daughter looked like she wanted it. He grimaced and leaned as cautiously as he could to pick up the toy and give it to baby Ronilda. The baby giggled and began to suck the monkey's right ear.

" _Hana, why don't you go fetch the present you got for Ronilda?"_ The woman patted Hana in the back.

" _Yes, Mommy._ " Hana jumped off the couch and ran upstairs. Her parents kept their smiles up until they were certain she was upstairs.

" _..., we've been meaning to ask,_ " the woman said quietly, " _has Ronilda been behaving strangely?_ "

" _What do you mean?_ " RJ's father held his infant close.

" _Well, son, we were just wondering if whether or not our granddaughter has shown certain odd behaviors,_ " the short man said. _"You know, like how Hana runs around on the walls and lifts up heavy objects with one hand._ "

 _"Oh_." The head of blonde clouds looked down at the baby playing in his arms. " _Ronilda hasn't shown any signs yet. I mean, ... and I are guessing that she didn't inherit my Mystical Monkey Power._ "

RJ frowned. Her father hadn't expected her to inherit his Mystical Monkey Power?

" _The signs haven't shown up yet. Personally, I wouldn't mind. Why?_ "

" _Hana seems to be getting more agitated than ever, we're worried about sending her to first grade,_ " the woman said. " _Your ninja friend offered to teach Hana for free if she took Hana with her back to Yamanouchi."_

" _As in boarding school or forever fashion_?"

" _Definetly boarding school_ ," the man reassured her. " _We just weren't certain, and since you have the most experience with the school and since you and Hana are the only ones with that... gift._ "

RJ made the mistake of blinking right before her 'aunt' came back downstairs. The memory blurred and she saw the English horizon again. She blinked because she wasn't sure if she understood the words right. If she heard it well, it meant that her paternal grandfather in the memory was insinuating that RJ's father and aunt were the only ones with the power.

 _Later, back at the Fiske Estate_

While the Fiske men, Gilliard, and Bates (who felt in good shape to return to the castle) were having a merry moment somewhere in the kitchen or dining room, Kronos was reading from an ancient manuscript to RJ and the Simian Witch in the library.

"Why are the pages blank?" RJ was confused.

"Only the healers of the Simian Witches can read this. Others see nothing," Kronos explained. "All of my predecessors have written the records of healing methods and tracked research of who else aside from the Simian Witches could be wielding the power even though the Jade Idols were buried."

"But how could these wielders have the power? MMP can only be obtained through the idols or the birthright!" The Simian Witch said.

"'First Mystical Records'," Kronos read out loud. "'Mystical Monkey Power did not originate on Earth. To retrace it's history, we must start from the beginning. In old times, the universe and its worlds were protected by twelve entities that used their magical essences to bring balance, peace, and harmony to the innocent mortals. Each entity was recognizable for its specific color, duty, and the mortal population it created personally. These entities were Crimson, Tiger, Canary, Juniper, Royal, Indigo, Magenta, Violet, Pearl, Ebony, Iron, and Cedar, who respectively supervised love, wisdom, joy, healing, power, tranquility, luxury, frustration, purity, elegance, age, and home.'"

"I'm going to guess right away that they had a black sheep," RJ said quietly.

"Right you are," Kronos said. "It describes later on that Violet, the entity of frustration, did not perceive mortals the way her fellow entities did. She saw them as guilty vermins capable of corruption, and corruption she spread like the poisonous gas she was."

"Pardon?" The Simian Witch said in confusion.

"Sorry. The records say that contrary to her peers, who were more solid physically, her body was made of a space gas very lethal. Anyway, she spread the corruption and mortals began to shed blood. When she managed to corrupt the mortal population he had created, Royal intervened and banished her into a black hole. After Violet was locked up, Royal and the other entities that mortals were half innocent, half corrupting and that their essence was best kept apart. They divided their essences into thousands of crystals that were spread over the universe, but Royal was hesitant to break apart his. So he cut it in two, one was a tiny fragment that he crushed and the other a large chunk that he sent to Earth. It ended up in the area where Toshimu would fuse with the crystal's powers and build Yamanouchi on top of the remains of Royal."

"But if Toshimu had the essence of Royal, why haven't my ancestors known about this?" The Simian Witch asked.

"Also, why does it make mine blue while hers and Martin's are red?" RJ added.

Kronos flipped through the pages. "Crimson and Royal were consorts... Simian Witch legacy... Ah, here it is! Apparently, the entities made it that whoever finds the strongest in the remains would be the Ultimate Master of whichever entities' power they end with. They also made it so that the essence crystals could have enough sentience to select a proper host. In case a legacy like your ancestors, milady, would end up evil, they had to be prepared and took a crystal shard holding the essence, grinded it into a tea, and gave the tea to a..." Kronos growled in frustration. The other two leaned forward to see what he was fussing about and noticed that a couple pages were ripped off. "They pretty much gave up the search after those three pages."

"So this would mean that I'm the host of Royal?" RJ frowned.

"Maybe, maybe not. You could easily be the offspring of the Ultimate Monkey Master."

"My dad," RJ guessed.

"Perhaps. Either it's you or him," the Simian Witch pondered. "It could be you because you heard a voice different from the one that usually antagonizes you, but it could be your father."

"Or my aunt." The adults looked at her in confusion. "Sorry. Like I told you, I had a new memory reveal back in Netherfield, only in this one, I saw my paternal grandparents and aunt with my dad. Before it ended, my grandparents asked my dad if I had the power like him and my aunt since they were the only ones to have it."

"Is it possible for MMP to skip a generation?" the Simian Witch asked Kronos.

"Not in your family," Kronos raised an eyebrow. "But RJ knows little of her family."

"It's important that we don't say any of this to the others, Monty especially."

"I'm sorry if it looks like I crushed Lord Fiske's dreams." RJ lowered her head in guilt.

The Simian Witch lifted her head up. "He's got his family, and that's the greatest dream ever for him. I'm sure it would mean a lot to us all if you could be a part of it."

It took a few moments for RJ to blink and sink the words in before jumping at the Simian Witch with a hug. Kronos shed some happy tears.

 _Meanwhile, in the unknown area_

The master figure tapped his fingers on his chair as he watched the footage of Ronilda Stoppable with the Simian Witch and her servant.

" _Keep it up, girl,_ " he said. " _Your_ _ **family**_ _won't do anything for you when the time comes for me to have my hand on your skull._ "


	25. The Special Day

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 25: The Special Day

On Wednesday morning, Martin knocked on RJ's chamber door. "RJ?"

No answer. He held up the tray in his right hand while the left one opened the door. As he stepped inside, he found the chamber in mayhem. Notes and sketches were push-pinned on a wall and connected with red thread, opened books and crumbled papers were stashed in a molehill shape, and RJ was sleeping on the floor on top of a pile of paper.

Martin avoided slipping on the papers and placed his available hand on RJ's cheek. "RJ?" He asked quietly.

"Mad Dogs and Aliens... Gah!" RJ bolted up, sending some papers flying. She rubbed her eyes. "Is it still Tuesday?"

"No, it's Wednesday." Martin held up the tray for her. Her eyes beamed at the sight of golden sun pancakes with warm fudge on a plate, a bowl full of pistachio Turkey Delights, a glass of orange juice, and a cup full of hot chocolate with marshmallows. "Happy birthday, RJ."

RJ clasped her hands over her mouth. Her birthday! It was today! She was now sixteen!

"You shouldn't have!" RJ said as she took the tray and put it on the table. Martin picked up the loose paper on the floor.

"I see you've been pulling an all-nighter for illustrations." He looked at the illustration he was holding, which was of a red and blue bedroom. From where he was looking, it was almost as if he was the unknown person resting in the bed on the foreground while a man with a clouded bed was happily sobbing over a bloody infant and a Japanese midwife was writing something down. In the background, the window curtains were pulled back to reveal the moon.

Martin looked up from the paper. "RJ, have you been drawing out memories?"

Word did go quickly around. From the return of Bates until today, RJ hardly came out of her room. Bates did come to her room to deliver her meals, and came out not telling what was wrong with her out of gratitude and respect for 'a lady's privacy'. Gilliard even came knocking last night to offer a round of video gaming, but when she declined, he dreaded that the RJ they knew had been abducted by aliens. In the end, the Simian Witch suggested that it would be best to leave RJ be. And it turned out right.

"I guess I got carried away with trying to figure out who my dad is," RJ chuckled as she drank her hot chocolate. Some melted marshmallows got stuck on her lips and she wiped it off with the provided napkin.

"And he's still fogged?" Martin flipped the paper so that RJ could see the illustration he was holding. "Judging by the pose of the person in bed and the bloody infant, I'm going to guess it was your birth." He smirked again at the drawn infant. "Who knew you were vicious, even as a baby?"

"Hilarious." RJ finished her hot chocolate. "It was hard portraying that one. It started with darkness, then blue electricity, and the midwife announcing my parents that they have a girl. But the still annoying part? I keep searching through my memories, but I still end up with my dad's face in fog or my parent's names being blurred out of sentences."

"Did you manage to see your mother?" Martin walked up to the wall.

"With her, it's weird. I can hear her, but when I see her, I don't see her head. You know how in some kid cartoons, when they primarily want to show the kid characters, they just crop off the adult's heads?"

"Maybe your mother had short hair or she managed to keep it tied up... Aw, you at a party celebrating your birth!" Martin teased when he pointed at an illustration of a baby RJ being held by her headless mother during a party in some kind of living room. A banner with the words 'MAZEL TOV FOR THE NEWCOMER' was hanging on top of a door leading to an open kitchen buffet. Martin noticed that in the foreground, a man was giving another man a book. " _Uranus' Comedy_? I read that book when I was ten."

"Really?" RJ took a break and joined Martin to observe the illustration. "I think it was one of those gifts the guests gave for me that my parents didn't approve. One of my dad's cousins gave him _Uranus' Comedy_ so that I could read it when I was older. I still have no idea what the book is about that made my parents against it."

"It was some kind of science-philosophy book discussing the weirdness about how a gas planet named after a Roman incarnation of the sky got satellites named after Shakespearean characters. _That_ was one of the few books that bored me to sleep while reading. It was like reading an F- minus high school essay, I threw the book into a charity box."

At his curiosity, she explained to him the context of the memory drawings: a black executive car driving by the side of some kind of giant river, RJ being tucked in her crib under a night-motif mobile circling above her, her playing on the floor while her father was writing on an office desk, her family celebrating some kind of holiday in her grandparents' backyard in the fall, her parents and grandparents discussing with a rabbi, RJ crying when she accidentally tore off her Cuddle buddy's head, her playing with her cousin Hana, her throwing Oreos at her father's despised cousin Shawn, RJ blowing her first happy birthday cake ever while her dad took pictures, and her nearly getting punished by her mother when RJ nearly swallowed by a quarter.

In the end, Martin concluded: "Your parents were, or still are, wealthy business makers. Just by looking at your memory of your father's office... It's exactly the same kind that a CEO would have. Problem is, the illustration is too close-up. We can't tell what kind of company he ran, or still runs. And your mother dresses up professionally when discussing business matters. Her formal attire could suggested either a successful company or maybe even lawyer or diplomat."

"Funny," RJ said sourly. "Considering she was the one who suggest me having house arrest."

"She didn't say that," Martin said.

"She might as well have."

"She was just a combination of paranoid and overprotective." Martin pointed at the illustrated memory of the quarter incident. "Many mother's are like that. To the point where they lead to embarrassment." He switched topics. "I also noticed your memories of your father also include a Jewish background."

"The rabbi's very evident. I guess my dad wanted to plan my bat mitzvah up ahead."

"That, but also that celebration in the backyard. I noticed that your family used shofars in the background. The shofar is only used to indicate the beginning and end of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year." He noticed RJ's blank blinks and he crossed his arms in exasperation. "Come on! Your mother didn't even bother mentioning your parent's religion?"

"Religions," RJ corrected. "I think she and my mom were part of a Catholic family."

"As they say in Yiddish, a Shiska."

RJ pulled up her now empty tray of food and began walking to the door. "Thanks again for breakfast, I'll bring it back to the kitchen..."

"That's alright, I'll take it downstairs." Martin took the tray from her hands. A quick sniff made him pace back. "You might want to double your shower. We'll leave for London as soon as you're ready."

RJ nodded and made her way to the closet. Martin walked outside and closed the door behind him. His mouth let out a despaired sigh as he made his way downstairs. He ran into Gilliard, who must have come out of the shower since he smelled like soap-rubbed scales.

"What's with the upside down smiley face?" Gilliard asked.

"I'm nervous about today," Martin admitted.

"What's there to be afraid of? You're taking RJ around London, you go see the famous areas, you have a ride on the Eye of London at lunchtime, you go see a Shakespearean play, and after an early dinner, you bring up to the Big Ben where you profess your love under the sunset!" Gilliard pulled out a party horn and blew it at Martin's face while confetti exploded out of nowhere.

"But that's just it, Gilliard." Marin used his finger to push down the party horn away from his face. "What if after all those weeks of deciding, RJ decides that we're better off as friends?"

"Well, you'll never find out until tonight." Gilliard took the tray from Martin. "Now, go change. And please, for once, dress like a casual guy."

It took around five to ten minutes for Martin to go through his own closet. It was only when he searched through the back of the closet that he felt a plastic cover. His eyes widened when he pulled out the outfit that turned out to be the same as the one he wore back in Milan, thanks to Chino. A sticky note stuck on the plastic. Martin ripped it off and read it.

 _ **Told you, you like her.**_ Martin rolled his eyes. Apparently the Fashionistas were the Weird Sisters in disguise. Somehow they predicted that he'd wear that outfit today.

 _Half an hour later_

"Mother, will you stop taking pictures?" Martin begged his mother while he waited for RJ downstairs by the front door.

"No way," she shook her head. "I will taunt you forever for the rest of your life with this."

Martin looked around. "Say, where's Father?"

"He had to do something." The Simian Witch then looked up and gasped. This led Martin to look up as well. His nerves froze and his chest beats accelerated. RJ was making her shy way down the stairs, wearing a light blue high neck halter top, black flared pants, and matching ballet flats. Her hair was brushed in the same style Espadrille had once fashioned it.

"RJ, you look beyond darling!" The Simian Witch complimented and took a picture.

"Thank you, Mrs. Silvia," RJ said.

"Uh..." Martin was blushing fiercely.

"Relax, Martin. You turning sixteen wasn't exactly an exciting point of my life," the Simian Witch remarked.

"Gee, thank you, Mother." Martin lost all signs of nervousness.

"Now you kids have fun!" The Simian Witch opened the door for them. "But remember, come back before dark and _no_ jaywalking."

"Yes, Mother," Martin sighed. He held out his arm. "Shall we..." He blinked when he noticed that RJ wasn't indoors. Turns out she took the liberty of sneaking outside while Martin was in the middle of getting embarrassed. "You coming?" RJ called out while she waited by the Platyrrhini.

Martin sighed in amusement and joined her. The Simian Witch gave them a small 'toodles' and waited until her son's car was completely out of sight to shut the front door tight. She headed to the kitchen, where she found the men (excluding Kronos) preparing a two-layered birthday cake. "They're gone. How's it going?"

"I never realized that baking a two-layered cake could be that difficult," Monkey Fist admitted. His apron was the most covered in batter.

"The cake I made for you and the mistress' wedding anniversary was no piece of cake," Bates commented politely. Gilliard chuckled at his joke while Bates told the Simian Witch: "The batter is nearly done. We should be able to put the layers on top of one another and let them cool until noon. We can process to the decorating afterwards and the cake will be ready right when they get back."

"Excellent," the Simian Witch said.

"What do you think of the frosting and decorating idea?" Gilliard showed her a sketch. "Red velvet frosting, sugary chrysanthemum flowers, green pistachio vines, and we stick the sixteen candles into sixteen pistachio flavored Turkish delights that we set on the layers' top."

"I think that if you weren't so obsessed with video games, you'd make a great career as a cake decorator," the Simian Witch shrugged.

"Are you being nice or sarcastic? I can never tell."

 _For most of the day..._

RJ would never lie. Her sixteenth birthday was by far the best birthday she ever had.

To their luck, it was sunny all day in London and Martin was able to find free parking. The schedule he had planned for this day worked out perfectly.

First, they had that ride in the Eye of London. RJ wouldn't stop moving around the capsule they were in so that she could see the city in all perspectives. She got giddier when she could spot Big Ben. Once the ride was over, they used a double-decker bus to head to Baker Street, where they visited the Sherlock Holmes Museum and got quite an amount of souvenir pictures. Afterwards, it was the boat ride on the Thames River with a lunch serving of roast beef, Earl Grey, and pasties. They laughed their heads off when they saw a passing gondola (they didn't understand what an Italian vessel was doing in England) getting knocked over by a tourist boat and the gondola owner cussing something in Italian. After getting back on shore, they headed to the Globe Theater to watch MACBETH. Interestingly enough, the troupe that performed today was reflecting how only men could play theater back in the Renaissance. Afterwards, they headed to the Buckingham Palace for the tour, where RJ had to admit that she cold never live in something fancy as that and preferred the more humble Fiske Estate, making Martin smile at her comment. Since they were still full from lunch, they just went with afternoon tea.

Sunset was approaching when they got to Big Ben. Martin did have to keep RJ behind him to avoid catching the attention of the police. "Hope you're ready for Big Ben," he said.

"Of course! But shouldn't we be getting in line so that we can make it to the stairs?" RJ asked.

"Sorry, vixen, but this time, I'm using the evil way to get," Martin cracked his knuckles, making RJ look up and realize what he meant.

"Uh oh."

 _A good hour later_

Tip for the future: never let a monkey boy climb you to the top of a large clocktower by climbing à la King Kong style. RJ had to hold on to Martin so tightly, she thought she could hear his calm heartbeats as he climbed all the way up Big Ben with her hanging on him. Once they reached the highest platform, between the clock and the pointy top, Martin helped her down.

"OK, next time, I'm taking the stairs!" RJ breathed to grab some air as if she got a heart attack. She then lost her freak attack to run to the rail and admire the sight. The sun was setting on the Thames and she could see all of London, hear the traffic sounds and distant conversations' buzzing, and the streetlights turning on like stars at daytime.

She sighed. Martin joined her by the railing. "It's beautiful," RJ said happily.

"Beautiful indeed," Martin agreed, only he was looking at RJ rather than the sunset that made RJ's ginger blonde hair shine even more. He then noticed RJ frowning in thought. "What's wrong? You got to the top of Big Ben, like you always wanted."

"Yeah, but what's next?" RJ asked. "I finally did what I wanted since childhood, I'm free since a month, I'm sixteenth. Most of the things I hoped for are real, but what do I do know I got them?"

Martin nodded. "I guess you find another goal in life." RJ gave a small smile that turned into a stunned one when Martin took her hands in his. "I know I found mine," he said, looking at her hazel eyes with his shadowy grey ones.

"Martin..." She gasped.

"I never should have given you that elixir," Martin confessed guilty. "I should have just told you that you took my interest since we first met and I got scared at the thought of you being hurt or brainwashed. Those two weeks at the castles, I felt less lonely with you."

RJ bit her lip. She could almost feel her heart cry. "I know I said I can wait as long as it takes, but..."

His words got cut when she pulled her hands away from his. His face almost developed a horrified expression until she jumped to hug her arms over his shoulders and kiss him. Martin was a bit stunned, but more seconds of feeling RJ's lips on his led him to wrap his arms around her waist.

RJ could still feel her heart racing when they took a break to catch some air, pressing their foreheads on top of one another. "So I'm guessing we are definetly past a professional relationship?" Martin joked.

"I just kissed you. What do you think?" RJ giggled.

"Silly me. I'm guessing we are what the Americans call 'boyfriend and girlfriend' then, RJ..."

"Ronilda."

"What?" Martin blinked.

"My real name's Ronilda, not RJ. I was embarrassed by my name, that's why I switched to RJ when I joined Y.E.A.R.N," RJ said. "I was worried that you'd compare me to your dad's nemesis if you found out I was named Ronilda."

Martin gave a small laugh. "Me, compare _you_ to the idiot my parents hate? You're not a degree _close_ to what he was. You're resourceful, talented, strong, beautiful, and the only one crazy enough to microchip me so that Amelia Hall could keep me away!"

RJ bit her lip in amusement while he tucked a loose hair strand of hers behind her ear. "Besides," he said, "I prefer Ronilda over RJ. It's original and does have a pinch of originality."

"Then please don't tell anyone. I still feel more comfortable when others call me RJ."

"Very well. I'll still call you RJ in public, but you're still my Ronilda to me."

 _My Ronilda_. For the first in a while, it wasn't RJ but Ronilda who mentally sighed as the youngsters resumed their kissing under the London night sky.

 _Meanwhile, in Colorado_

Will Du was just confused.

They traced the camera and satellite surveillances of the HenchCo van, but for some reason, it wasn't shown driving to the other side of the tunnel. Will Du had sent agents to interrogate the locals that lived near the area and even further. But after two weeks of searching, it seemed like the vehicle and Ronilda Stoppable had just vanished.

And to top it all, Dr. Possible admitted to him that she didn't have her own daughter or son-in-law's phone numbers.

"Why on Earth would you not have their numbers?" Will Du asked Dr. Possible while they were in his office. "Surely it would have occurred to them that there would be a case where their daughter might flee?"

"Kim never imagined it would happen," Dr. Possible admitted as she rubbed her temples in despair. "I don't even know where they are."

"'Kim never imagined'," Will Du quoted her. He sat down. "What about Ron Stoppable?"

"Ron didn't fully support Kim's idea to hide Ronilda without them," the woman explained. "Shortly after he and Kim 'left' Ronilda in my care, he came back alone a week later..."

 _Flashback, the fuller version of RJ's subconscious memory_

"You know what Kim said, Ron," Dr. Possible told her son-in-law.

"Kim doesn't have to know." Ron was cradling his little girl, who had gotten excited at the return of her 'dada' and was giggling as he gently moved her to sleep. "You know I can't bear to part with Ronilda. Kim and I are planning to part until things are confirmed to be safe, but I could take Ronilda with me. I could keep her safe and our family wouldn't be torn apart!"

 _Back to the present_

"I had to dissuade him out of him. A husband backstabbing a promise to his wife can make her lose her trust," Dr. Possible finished explained. "He gave in, but swore that he'd never give up on Ronilda should he find that she left."

"Hm," Will Du pondered. "Based on the information you have given me, it is clear that the bond between father and child was strong." He snapped his fingers. "I got it! We can use that bond to help us find Ronilda! Where did Stoppable work before he worked?"

"As Bueno Nacho CEO, but I think he resigned. The media says his successor is a man named Pablo Preston."

"In that case, we'll just have to ask his successor..."

A ripping sound came above their heads. They looked up and saw what looked like a pair of hands with metal claws pushing the ceiling as if the metal were made of crumbled paper. Will Du ran to sound the alarm, but the beast jumped and kicked him right at Dr. Possible, sending the two flying to a corner where the figure trapped them.

"What a touching story of family reunion," the figure snorted from the shadows. "Too bad it has a tragic ending for your granddaughter."

 _Back in England_

The Platyrrhini pulled into the garage of the Fiske Estate at around 10pm. Martin got out and joined RJ, who looked upset as she failed at yet another phone call.

"Why aren't they answering?" RJ pouted as she closed her cell phone. "I hoped to hear from Melgo and Buffy."

"Maybe they went on duty for Jack Hench," Martin suggested. RJ sighed. "C'mon, I'm sure they'll call eventually. It happened when Gilliard didn't call me for a week when _he_ was at Y.E.A.R.N."

RJ shrugged as she put her cell phone in her pocket. She lifted her head just in time for Martin to sneak a kiss on her. "My Ronilda," he whispered to her.

"My snob," she joked back.

"If I had a pound for everytime you gave me a nickname with 'snob'," he shook his head. He took her hand, making her feel the softness of his hand fur. The hallway was oddly dark until the lights turned on automatically.

" **SURPRISE!** "

The crowd was gathered by the staircase. The adults were standing by a cart holding a beautiful birthday cake, Kronos and Gilliard stood by a table holding glasses, plates, and presents, and the talking monkey ninjas were blowing party horns.

"Cappuccino, Semifreddo, Vitello, Tartufo!" RJ went on to high-five the monkey ninjas. "It's so great to see you again!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't get used to it," Tartufo said, hiding a small smile.

"Time to blow those candles!" The Simian Witch said.

RJ smiled. For the first time in her life, she had a bunch of people and a big cake to celebrate her birthday. She blew on all of her candles, which lead to a series of printed photos of the party. They ate cake, drank, and privately gave RJ her presents. Bates gave her a scrapbook kit. From Kronos, she received an encyclopedia on literal and metaphorical treasures. Gilliard gave RJ her own console, and the Simian Witch presented to RJ her new black-and-magenta martial arts uniform, simpler than the one she used to wear for training and fashioned with courtesy of her friend Espadrille.

Monkey Fist was the before-last-one to give RJ her present. He waited until the others were cleaning up, probably to hide his soft side as he gave RJ her present in a black wooden box. She slowly opened the box, fearing that there might be something fragile in there. To her luck, it was just a retractable bo staff. Cyan blue, with lovely carvings of Chinese characters and lily flowers.

"The Lily Staff. I found it in a temple many years ago," he said.

"Are you sure you'd risk giving me one of your relics?" RJ asked cautiously.

"I trust that you'll take good care of it. Just try not to whack my head with it." He gave out a small smile with his joke. RJ smiled a bit and thanked him.

The talking monkey ninjas gave her the last surprise. They dragged her up to her chamber, revealing to RJ that they redecorated her room in a more homely way. Granted, the regular décor did not bother RJ, but the way the monkey ninjas managed to decorate her room was better than her first bedroom and the Fiske Estate bedchamber combined! The bed sheets were replaced with simple magenta ones with white pillowcases (one of which her Pandaroo plush was relaxing on) and the curtains of both the bed and the windows were see-through white. The bathroom was the same, but the chamber's walls had been rubbed to look lighter, a magenta chaise lounge sofa and mahogany tea table were installed near the chimney with a white carpet underneath, and a small library was installed to keep magazines, books, and printed pictures. A Chinese vase holding chrysanthemum flowers rested by the window.

"It's amazing!" She hugged the monkey ninjas and placed kisses on their small heads, making them blush. As they scurried outside, she went to place her presents on the tea table. She took the moment to hold the Lily Staff in her hands, but blinked when she noticed that the light of the fireplace glowing behind the staff made her see the reflection of the wall with the research on her memories. She gasped when turning the staff projected a beam on the papers, specifically on the papers she had illustrated and talked about to Martin earlier today. She headed to the wall. Words had appeared in the areas that the beam hit.

"Bed, Uranus' Comedy, Executive Car, Night-motif mobile, Office desk, New Year, Abraham Katz, Cuddle Buddy, Hana, Oreos, Happy Birthday, and Quarter?" RJ grabbed a paper and wrote down the words. By the time she was done writing, the words vanished from the papers.

Bed

Uranus' Comedy

Executive Car

Night-motif mobile

Office Desk

New Year

Abraham Katz

Cuddle Buddy

Hana

Oreos

Happy Birthday

Quarter

"What on Earth does that mean?" RJ frowned.

A knock came on the door. RJ quickly hid the paper and pen under her bed sheets and went to answer the door. "Martin?"

"I came to check on you," he said. He stepped in the chamber and closed the door behind them. "I see the monkey ninjas redecorated."

"Yeah, they managed to make it feel... homely," RJ said genuinely.

"I hope you enjoyed today, Ronilda," he said.

RJ converted into Ronilda. "It really was the best day. I couldn't ask for a better one." She caressed his cheek. "Yours was the best. I got my view of the Big Ben and my first boyfriend."

"Your _first_? I hoped I was your only one!" He said dramatically.

"I don't think there's another guy out there with monkey limbs, a moody attitude, a paranoia for the not-so-stiff, an interest in boy bands, inner securities, a dependency on being taught how to dance, and who needed groin kicks to not underestimate me," she smirked as she hugged him.

"Yes, the same way I'll never find an American vixen who calls me snob, chips me into a wild goose chase, never gives up in her training, blackmails me into submission, and gives me so much time to wait," he joked back. "We can admit, we bring out our flaws."

"And with or without them, we work well."

They shared another kiss before giving each other good nights. After closing the door, Ronilda sighed and felt her heart pumping as if to tell her _'Why leave? Here's your home._ '

The thought of it brought her to look at her paper again. The list was the same, only confusing.

"Wait a minute," she realized. The list she had just written had something familiar to what she read in a children's book. By writing down the words that had appeared in her illustrated memories, she had written down a hidden message hidden vertically. Ronilda grabbed a pen and grabbed the clues she found.

 **B** ed

 **U** ranus' Comedy

 **E** xecutive Car

 **N** ight-motif mobile

 **O** ffice Desk

 **N** ew Year

 **A** braham Katz

 **C** uddle Buddy

 **H** ana

 **O** reos

 **H** appy Birthday

 **Q** uarter

 _Your parents were, or still are, wealthy business makers. Just by looking at your memory of your father's office..._ , Martin's words echoed in Ronilda's head as she wrote the message down horizontally. _It's exactly the same kind that a CEO would have. Problem is, the illustration is too close-up. We can't tell what kind of company he ran, or still runs._

"Well not anymore," RJ said as she held up the paper with the following words screaming at her.

 **BUENO NACHO HQ.**


	26. Dinner Party At The Seniors

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 26: Dinner Party At The Seniors

A whole week had passed since RJ's birthday. Most of her days right now were going through a basic routine, which was far more interesting than her life back in the penthouse. The whole mornings were series of intensive training from Monkey Fist on Tai Shing Pek Kwar (he was way more vicious in the training than his son was) until RJ couldn't feel anymore the painful hits she got on her limbs and found better flexibility with the Lily Staff. Afternoons were mystical training with the Simian Witch and RJ could feel her power calming down to suspiciously quiet levels. Evenings were the most pleasant ones by far: dates with Martin, the shared tender moments, and his kept promise. He still called her 'RJ' around the others, but whenever they were alone, he'd teasingly whisper in her ear 'my Ronilda'.

Occasional free time doing video games with Gilliard and the talking monkeys went back to the property in France.

This would seem like an ideal depiction of 'normal life' if three things still didn't bug RJ.

One: The secret message she saw and the words 'Bueno Nacho HQ'.

Two: The annoying voice that taunted her was nowhere. It would be soothing if RJ wasn't so worried on when it would come up.

Three: What the heck was up with Melgo and Buffy?

RJ tried calling Melgo's parents from the phone the Fiskes had. Shego answered by saying Melgo left a note saying she and Buffy were sent on a classified mission for HenchCo. After thanking the woman, RJ tried the number of Buffy's father, Duff Killigan. His response was different than Shego's: he claimed that Buffy told him she and Melgo were off on a Y.E.A.R.N field trip to visit one of HenchCo's bases in Cambodia. After that call, RJ contacted the desk number of Jack Hench. This was ridiculous! Now he was telling her that Melgo called for a leave because she needed to tend to her grandmother who got hospitalized and Buffy went with her for moral support.

RJ sighed as she hung up the phone. Gilliard was the first to notice her disappointment as she headed back to her room. Five minutes later, he mustered the gut to knock on her door.

"Everything alright, Gamer Queen?" He asked as he stepped inside. RJ was reading a book on her couch but she closed it and put it down on the table so that she could sit properly. Gilliard closed the door behind you.

"Mixed." She shrugged. "I don't know what's up with Melgo and Buffy. I called their folks and Hench and they all told me different excuses on why Melgo and Buffy aren't exactly available." She sighed. "Especially since I was hoping to get feedback from Melgo. I mean, aside from the Fiskes, I usually relied on Melgo for advice on things that trouble me."

"Maybe I could help." Gilliard sat down and placed the laptop he was carrying on his lap. "After all, we're friends. And I promise that if it's a lot to you, I won't blab to anyone. Fish scale promise."

RJ smirked. She explained to him how she had been trying to jog through her memories of her parents, her faceless father, the remarks Martin had made on her research, and how the Lily Staff had sent a beam on RJ's illustrations to reveal a secret message saying 'Bueno Nacho HQ'.

"Wow," Gilliard said once he was done. "So you _theorize_ that your dad might be the CEO of Bueno Nacho?"  
"Yeah." RJ chuckled. "I guess it sounds crazy when you put it that way."

"No, no, no!" Gilliard shook his hand. "It's actually very possible. I mean, if your parents didn't hide you away because of your MMP, then they probably hid you because your dad is like a billionaire and it happens when rivals send crooks-for-hire to kidnap rich heirs to mess up their competitors." He opened up his laptop and began to pull up an article. "You know, the current Bueno Nacho CEO is a guy named Pablo Preston. He's incredibly rich and to top it all, nobody has ever seen his face!"

"Seriously?" RJ looked at the article.

"Yeah! No photos, no press conferences! His secretary is usually the one who does the talking in public. He's like a shroud of mystery. A mysterious, rich CEO like him could be your dad."

RJ read the article's title. "'Pablo Preston Finally Reveals Himself In Three Days!'"

"Yeah," Gilliard nodded. "Well actually, this article has yet to be published tomorrow, but since I used to work part-time at a Bueno Nacho in the Minalshari during my time at Y.E.A.R.N, I still get the newsletters."

"You used to work at Bueno Nacho?" RJ asked.

"My mom made me promise that if I was going to stay with her during my studies, I had to get a job." Gilliard shrugged it off. "Point is, since I used to work at one of those joints, I get Bueno Nacho updates, newsletters, and soon-to-be published articles. For example, I just got today a newsletter about the article that will be published tomorrow. This Sunday, Pablo Preston will reveal his true face to the public when he inaugurates the opening of the very first ever BUENO NACHO THEME PARK!"

"No way! Bueno Nacho is having a theme park?" RJ gasped.

"I know, right?" Gilliard showed her the pictures. "The Naco Tower, the Burrito Coaster, the Salsa y Guacamole Bumper Boats, Bendy Straw Falls, and so many more!" Gilliard searched through his shirt and pulled out a red paper. "I even got two invites as a former employee. RJ, I could take you to the opening ceremony and you could meet Pablo Preston. He might be your dad."

"But what if he isn't?" RJ said. "I mean..."

"RJ, you found the message 'Bueno Nacho HQ'. Either it means your dad's the CEO or he had ties with it. But at least you tried to know."

RJ rubbed her chin. "We'd have to do this without the Fiskes knowing. I don't think... I already didn't tell them about the message."

"Easy." Gilliard gave a thumbs-up. "The Fiskes think I'm going to this video game convention in Nottingham this weekend."

"They _think_?"

"I've been saving money for months. I was just about to purchase bus tickets when I got the invites. All we'd have to do is say that you're tagging along with me to the convention and we'll be back Monday morning. They'll see us head to London under the assumption that we'll take a train to Nottingham, but in reality we'll catch a plane..."

"Uh, Gilliard?" RJ raised her hand. "In what _country_ is the Bueno Nacho theme park?"

"The park is in Dubai."

"I'm sold. Let's do it."

They shook hands on it right when the Simian Witch called out for a gathering.

 _Minutes later_

"A dinner party at the Seniors?" Monkey Fist said drily.

"Yes." The Simian Witch shook the invitation in her hands. "It's tonight and they just sent the invitations _this morning_."

"We could claim we got hit by a contagious flu and we can't make it to the party," RJ volunteered.

"We already did that," Monkey Fist sighed.

"OK." RJ pondered for ideas. "What about 'too busy finding treasures in Cambodia'?"

"We already did that excuse." The Simian Witch shook her head.

"Is there any excuse you haven't used yet?" RJ sighed.

"There was the excuse of 'searching for moonstones', but context was against us," Monkey Fist sighed.

"I could always throw myself off the window and you can say you can't come because I'm at the hospital," RJ gave a final suggestion.

"Are you mad? We're not going to throw you out the window!" Martin exclaimed. "Besides, we already tried that."

"Wait, somebody broke his limbs on purpose?" RJ got her answer when Martin raised his hand. She sighed in exasperation. "Great. We're gonna stuck with snooty Rockwaller."

"Oy vey," all the men said in exasperation.

A small piece of paper slipped out of the envelope. The Simian Witch caught it right before it could hit the floor. "Hold the phone!" She smirked. "Rockwaller is a no-show! Señor Senior is reassuring me that Rockwaller and Junior are off to Venice to celebrate their first-time-we-met anniversary."

"Phew!" The men sighed in relief.

"Good," RJ said, though she felt more like Rockwaller was purposely not coming to the dinner party because she dreaded RJ pouring her MMP-enhanced tea. "Who else is coming?"

"The Dementors," The Simian Witch said. "Which reminds me. No talking about wiring or brainwashing chips. We can talk to Dementia about it another day, but tonight, we're going to have fun."

The phone rang. Monkey Fist, being the closest to it, answered it. "Hello? Oh, Gil! However are you doing? Tonight? Yes, we'll see you there." He hung up and turned to Gilliard. "Your father will be seeing us at the party."

"Dad?" Gilliard frowned. "I thought he said he was too busy haunting Lake Wannaweep!"

"Clearly he's made time."

"So there's the Dementors, Gil, Señor Senior Three, the Leons..." The Simian Witch listed. "Oh, and Senior's card playing buddies. The four other richest people on the planet."

RJ blinked. _The four richest people on the planet?_

 _Hours later_

They took Monkey Fist's jet to the Mediterranean island where the Seniors had their private residence.

The Fiske males and Gills were in formal tuxes and shoes, the Simian Witch wore a black cocktail dress and somehow managed to keep all of her massive hair in a regular-sized bun, and RJ wore her purple dress. While Monkey Fist was maneuvering the jet, the Simian Witch rechecking her mirror, Martin sitting quietly next to his girlfriend, and Gilliard checking a magazine on the Nottingham convention, RJ checked out an online article about the five richest people on the planet.

First on the list was evidently Señor Senior Senior. Since his youth, he worked and saved his money and became rich from contributing to the evolution of modern transportation. Naturally, most of the 21st century reports about him talked about how the retired billionaire chose villainy as a hobby, could afford ridiculously expensive evil security, and clashed so much with Kim Possible to the point that losing to an American cheerleader caused him to be kicked out of a billionaire's club.

Rich people 3 to 5 were Martin Smarty, the CEO of Smarty Mart, Clover Beverly, the high-couture fashion designer from Beverly Hills, and Kory Lee, the heiress and new designer for the Japanese robot toys her father had created. But RJ really didn't pay attention to those three. She mostly kept seeing the part of rich person #2.

Pablo Preston.

 _Pablo Preston is the world's second richest billionaire who has revolutionized Bueno Nacho. Such a mysterious man has marveled the joint, expanded the menus to appease certain customer groups, like how he created the Muy Judío Menu (a menu that brought joy to all Jewish customers at Bueno Nacho). He is currently working on the first ever Bueno Nacho theme park, which will be in Dubai. Bueno Nacho lovers are going to Bueno Nacho as much as they can to win possible tickets for the opening ceremony of such a Mexican food wonderland in such an expensive city._

RJ turned off the tablet. Pablo Preston, the second richest billionaire in the world, possibly being her father? Further she thought about it, the more things seemed to make sense or not. For one, Gilliard made a point about her perhaps being an heiress hidden by her parents to protect her from the corporate rivals. But then again, chapters ago, when she changed her name to RJ when joining HenchCo, Ronilda remembered how her grandmother told her she was named 'Ronilda' as a female equivalent of her father's name. _Who calls their kid the female version of their dad's name?_ Ronilda remembered saying. _Ronilda, daughter of a Ronald._

 _Then again_ , RJ thought, _it's not the first time Grandma lied to me. Maybe my dad's name really isn't Ron but Pablo. Maybe my real name is indeed Ronilda Preston..._

The island came from the horizon. From what RJ could observe as the plane parked into the parking lot, the Seniors had an island big enough to fit the Fiskes' two castles. The mansion was illuminated in the dark as the stars reflected on the ocean. Jazz music could be heard coming from the mansion.

"Are you alright?" Martin asked. He must have felt RJ acting rather stiff as he held her by the arm gallantly while making their way in.

"Just a little woozy from the flight," RJ said. Technically, she wasn't wrong: this was the first flight she took consciously.

Señor Senior welcomed them in to his hall. "The complete set of Fiskes. So nice to see you all." He shook hands with Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch. "The days pass when I never forget when we set your marriage ceremony in my house as a surprise."

"Yes, things never get old," Monkey Fist sighed with a smile.

The old man caught sight of RJ. "So lovely to see you again, RJ! I must thank you for teaching my daughter-in-law a lesson with the boiling tea. She quite deserved it."

"Thanks. It's not the worst thing I committed yet." She chuckled nervously.

They proceeded to go in. The adults instantly began their business while the young ones hung around near the buffet table. The Dementors must have had the same memos as the Simian Witch since Dementia never brought up the thing considering the wiring.

"It's so nice to see that you and Herr Fiske are together," Dementia complimented as the two girls clanged their glasses full of cranberry cocktail. "You two do make the item."

"Thanks." RJ blushed as her spare hand went over the nautilus hairclip that Martin had given her and that she was now wearing for the party.

"By the way, Edina Lipsky called me to wish you a happy birthday and to let you know tat she did some special modifications to your all-terrain vehicle..."

"Oh, the one that she gave me after the monster truck rally!" RJ remembered those times fondly. "How come Edina didn't come tonight?"

Dementia chuckled. "The Lipsky clan at an upper class party!" She shook her head. "Though Edina and I are in better terms than me with her cousin."

"Speaking of Melgo, have you heard anything from her and Buffy? I tried calling their folks and Jack Hench, but they all told me different reasons as to why they weren't available."

"Really?" Dementia was curious. "What did they say?"

"HenchCo mission, HenchCo field trip to Cambodia base, and moral support for grandmother being hospitalized."

"OK, the last two are definetly phony. For one, HenchCo _never_ organizes international field trips unless it's to export new henchmen to clients and Edina's grandaunt, Melgo's grandmother, is still in healthy shape. I should know, she and my _Oma_ live in the same retirement villa in Florida and I visited my Oma last Thursday. Not to mention that Edina told me she hasn't heard from her cousin in weeks: she wasn't in Y.E.A.R.N nor was she at home."

RJ bit her lip. "You don't think something bad happened, do you?"

"We live in a strange world, RJ. It happens when villains decide to lay very low."

Meanwhile, distanced from the crowd, Gilliard was discussing with Camillo Léon.

"You're really going to Dubai? Without the Fiskes knowing?" Camillo asked as quietly as he could.

"Let's just say I'm helping RJ in an informational heist," Gilliard said discreetly. "Point is, with the invites I got and all the cash I've been saving for the Nottingham convention, I can score two-last minute plane tickets and reservations at a hotel in Dubai. Catch is, since you've been to Dubai before and made connections..."

"Don't tell me. You thought I'd pull strings to make sure that you have a ride while in Dubai," Camillo shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Really?" Gilliard frowned.

"You're a frequent customer at my boutique and I'm good friends with the _chérubin_. Besides, it's better that you escort her. The last time she went alone to a city..."

"Yeah." Gilliard bit his fish lips. "The bridge in DC."

"Alva Electronique settled in Dubai to do his business. I can contact him so that he can guide you around, but that's much from my part. Just promise that RJ won't become the next public enemy #1 of the United Arabs Emirates."

Gilliard nodded. Just when he turned his head, he noticed that at the end of a corridor, there was a labeled door.

 **Security Room.**

Slippery as he was, Gilliard snuck his way into the room. Two guards glared at him when he opened the door. It took Gilliard two bills of five dollars to persuade them to make their merry way out whistling while he had the room to himself.

 _Meanwhile, in the other room_

"May I present my card-playing comrades," Señor Senior presented RJ to the rich billionaires. "Mr. Smarty, and Ladies Beverly and Lee and..." He frowned. "Wait, where is Pablo?"

"He's just leaving," Clover Beverly said as she accepted a piece of caviar and bread while RJ mentally cursed herself. "He was afraid of telling you himself, but he wasn't keen on the idea of having a last minute party with some of your friends."

"Again?" Señor Senior sighed. "Well, I tried..."

"If I may ask," RJ asked politely. "I hear that Mr. Preston never reveals himself to the public. Is he someone who really values privacy?"

"He never tells us," Señor Senior shook his head. "He wouldn't even accept friend pictures. My grandson thinks Pablo might be a scopophobic."

"Spoiler alert, he has platinum blonde hair, hazel eyes, and wears only blue when he's on business." Martin winked. He leaned forward to squint at RJ. "Funny. I told the same thing to Pablo: you almost have the same eyes as one of my former employees. Ron Stoppable."

"Ah, the boy who inspired me to become a villain by saying my mansion looked like a lair that could use for weapons," Señor Senior smiled. "I miss him. We had good conversations once in a while."

"One of Team Possible's members worked for you?" RJ asked as she and the rich folks sat down on the leather couches.

"Yes," Mr. Smarty said. "It was actually right in this house after one of the card-game nights. Shego tried to hold me for ransom until Ronald saved me by throwing her into the alligators. I rewarded him by giving him a job at Smarty Mart's pet department. He worked like a dream. He then stopped when he finished college."

"I heard he mysteriously vanished after he and Kim Possible got married," Kory Lee giggled. "So romantic."

"Yes, my son Artie went to their wedding. Afterwards, Ron actually stepped up by becoming CEO of Bueno Nacho."

RJ froze as she drank her beverage. Monkey Fist was just passing by when he heard Martin Smarty talk about that last part. "You don't say." He leaned from behind the couch Smarty was sitting on.

"Yes. I actually saw him a few times at his office. But the last I saw him for good was at his daughter's funeral."

"His daughter's funeral?" Monkey Fist and Señor Senior both exclaimed.

"I didn't know Team Possible reproduced," RJ frowned. "I just heard they vanished."

"From what I learned through Ronald, the real reason Team Possible quit their crime-fighting career was after their marriage when Kimberly was revealed to be expecting. They sort of went underground and assumed regular, well-off careers. Apparently, Kimberly wanted to raise their daughter in a normal environment. I did see the child a few times." Martin Smarty chuckled. "I'll never forget the first time, though. I paid Ronald a surprise visit to his office at the Bueno Nacho HQ and I caught taking care of his toddler. He freaked out because he didn't expect anyone outside of the family circle to know he had a child."

"I can only imagine," Monkey Fist said drily.

"Tell me, did the child have a name?" Señor Senior asked curiously.

"Yes. Her full name was Ronilda Anastasia Stoppable. Basically, Ron Stoppable 2.0," Martin Smarty said.

RJ froze yet again, only this time her esophagus was blocking her beverage from making its way down her stomach.

"It is sad , though." Mr. Smarty shook his head. "A year later, I got the invitation to attend Ronilda's funeral. Apparently she got an unexpected illness that was fatal for her age. Her body was cremated and buried in a forest outside Lowerton. And ever since the funeral, I heard nothing from Ronald or his wife. He quit his post as Bueno Nacho CEO, completely vanished, and a few days later, Pablo Preston came to take his place."

"Seriously? He just disappeared after losing his child?" Monkey Fist looked surprised. He lifted his head to notice RJ's face paling. "Goodness gracious, RJ. Are you alright?"

"I think I had too much cocktail..." RJ covered her mouth with a hand.

"The bathrooms are this way." Señor Senior pointed at the corridor Gilliard went to earlier. RJ made a run for it. She almost made it to the bathroom until she ran into Gilliard coming out of the security room. The first thing he did was to pinch her nose and order her to swallow deeply. RJ did just that, and miraculously, her desire to puke disappeared.

"You OK?" He asked.

"Yeah, I... heard stuff I wasn't supposed to hear. Celebrity junk," RJ said. _Yeah, that's it,_ she thought. _Celebrity junk. There's no way that what Mr. Smarty said was true. Too much cocktail drinking messed with my head._

"Guess what I found? Printed footage of Pablo Preston." He waved a picture at RJ. It showed a photo footage of a silver jet preparing to leave. Boarding on the plane was a man close to his late thirties or early forties dressed in a blue suit. His head was turned, revealing his face to the camera. Like Mr. Smarty had said, Pablo Preston was platinum blonde with hazel eyes.

Hazel eyes as identical as RJ's. If it weren't for the age, hair color, and gender, the two could have been mistaken for twins.

"He _does_ look like me!" RJ gasped.

"See? You are Pablo Preston's kid! And we're going to Dubai to give him a piece of our mind about him leaving you behind!"

"Great." RJ forced a smile out.

 _But it doesn't make sense_ , she thought. _Martin Smarty says I'm Ron Stoppable's kid... but that was probably me getting drunk. And now I see Pablo Preston looks like me. Who_ _ **is**_ _my dad?_

"First things first. Pretend to be sick." Gilliard said.

RJ nodded. She brought back her feeling of puking and pretended to sway. Gilliard caught her arm and carried her to the hall.

"RJ?" Martin rushed worryingly.

"Too much... cocktail." RJ held her mouth while Martin switched roles with Gilliard.

"Father, I think RJ's sick. I might as well take her home," Martin told Monkey Fist.

"Fair enough, son." Monkey Fist gave him the keys to the jet. "I'm sure Señor Senior won't mind giving me and Silvia a ride back home. You children have a safe trip and boys, make sure RJ drinks fluids."

"I hope you get better," Gilliard pulled his act. "I can't believe you're going to miss the convention!"

"You wanted to go with Gilliard to the video game convention this weekend?" Martin asked RJ.

"I wanted to... but I guess I won't make it," RJ said.

"In that case, get some rest now if you two want to make it to Nottingham this weekend." Monkey Fist shooed them out. RJ was placed on an armchair. As soon as Martin was distracted by preparing the jet for launch, RJ turned to share a mischievous wink and thumbs up with Gilliard.

 _Meanwhile, in the unknown area_

" _Yes! YES!_ " The master figure laughed from his chair. " _It is finally here! In two days, Operation Capture Stoppable will begin!_ " He turned his chair to smirk at three shadowed silhouettes, with the serving figure at the lead. "My men will deal with the Earthling pests. You three know what we have to do." He got up and lifted his giant metal chair before throwing it at the silhouettes. The two in the back dodged while the leading one jumped towards the chair and sliced it into pebbles with her metal nails shining in the dark.

"Not only is it our job to serve our client," she said, "but we will do this mission with _great pleasure._ "


	27. Martin's SWMC

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 27: Martin's SWMC

For some reason, Martin woke up feeling weird.

Instead of waking up at 6am, he woke up to the sound of running water. His head felt woozy as he got up and hobbled his way to his chamber's door, forgetting that he was still in his pajamas and didn't take a shower.

"Good Lord, what is wrong with me?" He groaned. His hand slipped on a nearby furniture, accidentally pushing a pot full of chrysanthemums. The crashing porcelain alerted the occupant of the nearest occupied chamber. The door to RJ's chamber opened up, releasing a cloud of steam. RJ ran as fast as she could to where she heard the breaking sound.

"Martin! What happened?" RJ asked.

"I think I..." Martin froze when he turned to look at RJ. His body stiffened like a rock statue. Since RJ had just come out of her morning shower, she was still soaking under the magenta shower robe that covered her body. RJ waved a hand in front of Martin's face when she realized he wasn't responding at all.

"Kronos!" She shouted.

The healer rushed up the stairs and blushed at the sight. "Great Hanuman, put some clothes on!"

"Forgive me, next time I won't rush if I hear a breaking sound when I come out of the shower," RJ said sarcastically.

"Just go change! I'll take care of the master!" Kronos gave her a shooing gesture with her hands as he picked up Martin in one arm and dragged him back to his chamber. The moment he forced Martin to undress and lie in the bathtub, he poured in the cold water that made the young man wake his senses up.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?" He exclaimed.

"Master, what exactly did you see?" Kronos asked sternly.

"Thighs..." Martin shuddered in a so not-like-him attitude. "Sparkly water dripping... Hair perfume... Lively skin..." Kronos splashed him with water. "I'm awake!"

"I can't believe it did not occur to me sooner," Kronos groaned. "Young master, I fear you got affected by SWMC."

"What?" Martin got out of the bathtub and dried himself with a towel.

"Simian Witch Mating Crisis," Kronos explained. "It only happens around a week after a Simian Witch has found their love. Bad hormonal reaction that gives a Simian Witch increasing impatience or primitive hunger if not immediately treated."

"I'm not sure I'm following." Martin wrapped his lower body with the towel. He nearly freaked. "Are you saying I might go cannibal and eat RJ?"

"Uh, no. Though that did happen one time to your ancestors... No, I mean that since it's been close to a week since you and RJ have been dating and you share genuine attraction, you're beginning to get physical impulses that will get worse if you don't deepen your bond with RJ." To further his point, he pointed at Martin's bed and had his pointed finger land on his other palm.

Martin widened his eyes. "This must be a sick joke! RJ and I have been dating for a week!"

"She's of age of consent and you both have MMP!" Kronos was beginning to get impatient. "If you don't do it soon, your reaction will worsen and I can guarantee it will lead to a resolution without consent!"

"Well forgive me, Kronos! How exactly do you want me to tell my girlfriend that I need her to consummate with me so that I can get over my hormonal crisis?" Martin grabbed his forehead. "Natural perfume..."

"OK, stay in your room!" Kronos made sure to lock the window before exiting. He even made sure to barricade the door with one of the heavy Renaissance statues that decorated the hallway.

He hated this time period, when a Simian Witch began the genetic hormonal crisis of desire. Everytime one of the family members began dating someone, it led to a week until they got the deeper cravings that led to the next phase of the relationship. Kronos didn't want to get into further details, but it usually led a long time later to what we call the 'marriage contract'.

He never told the young master's mother. Unlike her ancestors and her son, she did not have the case of the SWMC. Since she spent five days sane and made out with Monkey Fist right after he proposed her during their first plot together (read **THE SIMIAN WITCH** ), she did not react. And Kronos did not bother telling her about her.

 _Honestly, how do I explain to a female outside of the family what the SWMC is_? He groaned mentally. Hearing the young master banging the walls as Kronos went downstairs did not help. He made his way downstairs to the kitchen, where Gilliard was making himself some sushi for breakfast.

"What's wrong?" Gilliard asked when Kronos roughly opened the fridge and drank right out of the carton of fat free milk. "I heard noises upstairs."

"The young master's genetics are reacting." Kronos threw the carton away into the trash as he had finished it. "He's undergoing a crisis where he needs to move to the next level in his relationship with RJ."

"He wants to marry her?" Gilliard frowned. "But it's only been a week!"

"Marriage is later. I mean more..." Since Kronos was too exasperated to say the words, he kept tapping his index finger on his palm.

"Home base?" Gilliard dropped his platter of sushi but managed to catch it before it hit the ground. "But RJ's too young! Can't he just wait until she's 18? I mean, it would seem more convenient."

"We can't wait for two years!" Kronos agitated his fingers. "The longer he waits, the more animalistic the master's desire gets! One my predecessors actually had to deal with a male Simian Witch who couldn't manage to control his crisis for a month, he _ate_ the lover!" He took a deep breath and calmed. "Then again, it was the Black Plague season."

"OK, OK," Gilliard said while his mouth was busy chewing on sushi. "I'll talk about it with RJ in the afternoon. Let's not force her first thing in the morning. She's already readjusting to all the cocktails that made her drunk last night and the Fiskes were OK with her coming with me to Nottingham for the video game convention."

Kronos nodded, unaware that Gilliard was lying.

 _Later in the day_

Judging by how the young master's chamber walls were still vibrating and Gilliard was nowhere in sight, Kronos concluded that RJ hadn't been told.

As he was preparing tea for the 5pm teatime, he got a phone call from Bates, who informed him that he, Monkey Fist, and the Simian Witch had been called by Drakken to an urgent meeting at the Minalshari. They didn't know yet if they'd return for the weekend.

A few minutes later, he brought the tea to the living room until he heard noises coming from the dojo. Curious, he pulled the hidden lever and went down the tunnel with his tray still at hand. When he got to the dojo, he found RJ wacking off the head of dummies with the Lily Staff. The expression on her face made it harder to determine what she was feeling.

"Tea?" He said out loud. RJ stopped her wacking and reduced her staff to its regular size when she saw Kronos.

"Hi," she said quietly. "Is it 5pm already?"

"How long have you been in the dojo?" He gave her a full teacup.

"Since I took my morning shower," she said. She drank all of the hot tea in one gulp and put the empty cup back on the tray.

"I hope it has nothing to do with this morning's incident..." Kronos began.

"DASH IT ALL, KRONOS! I'M FINE!" RJ snapped. Her blue eyes glowed, but luckily, nothing had exploded. Good thing she had trained to tone down her emotions.

Kronos put down the train and put his hand on RJ's shoulder. "What's wrong?" He asked patiently. "What on earth is troubling you to the point that you decapitate dummies?"

RJ looked at the carnage she had made out of the wooden dummies. Their heads were scattered all over the floor. "I'm working on figuring out who I am. I'm worried about the possibilities, I'm scared about finding out the truth, and I'm _terrified_ about what would happen if I get shunned for the truth. What would if... discovering who I am means I'd lose those that I care about. What if Melgo, Buffy, Edina, Camillo, and Gilliard decide to no longer be my friends? What if everyone I've grown fond of ever since I found my way into the world choose to hate me? What if..." She sounded depressed at that part. "What if Martin stops loving me?"

 _Wow, the irony_ , Kronos thought. The ginger blonde teenager was worried about being hated if she found out the truth about herself, while upstairs, Martin Fiske was having a genetic hormonal crisis that made him want and _need_ RJ even more.

"I hardly doubt he would stop loving you," Kronos reassured her. He sighed and explained to her the situation Martin was dealing with upstairs.

She blinked as the information sank into her. "Poor Martin," she said.

"I know it might seem unfair to put you in this situation, but..."

"I don't see how much it would make a difference," RJ shook her head in a rather indifferent tone.

"What do you mean?"

"With all the things I worry about lately... My identity, the reason why some mysterious fiend tried ti brainwash me for my MMP, Melgo and Buffy being unavailable, and other things... I don't know what will happen to me. Sometimes it makes me wonder if I should have just stayed in my grandmother's penthouse, away from the world."

"Well, staying indoors isn't going to help," Kronos said. "You know, I did manage to learn one thing after seeing my mistress' family mold their children into Simian Witches for generations."

"That they never pay you?" RJ frowned.

Kronos shook his head. "If you let yourself get molded into a shape desired by others, you'll never know if being outside the limits of their mold will turn you into a better shape."

"So... you think it was good that I left my grandmother, because now that I'm out of her mold... I'm actually growing up?"

Kronos nodded, pleased that for once, somebody understood the growing-up-lesson he always failed to reach out to little ones.

"The future will always be scary. We can't tell what will happen," he told her wisely. "All we can do is decide how we will proceed to that future."

 _Meanwhile, in Gilliard's room_

Gilliard was checking the times for last-minute tickets to Dubai when his cellphone rang and he answered it with his father on the line.

"A gathering for Y.E.A.R.N alumni? Wait, how come you and mom got that newsletter and I didn't?" Gilliard frowned. "No, I can't go. I'm going to a video game convention in Nottingham. OK. Tell Mom I say hi." He hung up his phone. He heard footsteps coming in the hallway. He discreetly opened the door and pulled RJ into his room.

"RJ, we have a fishy situation," he said. "My folks are going to a Y.E.A.R.N alumni gathering at the Minalshari."

"I didn't know there was going to be one," RJ said.

"You didn't get one too?" Gilliard widened his eyes. "I think there might be a set up."

"What do you mean?"

"Since Martin wasn't answering his phone, Monkey Fist called me to let me know that he, the Simian Witch, and Bates had to go to the Minalshari due to a call from Drakken and they don't know if they'll be home for the weekend. The so-called gathering my parents are going to at the Minalshari is precisely this weekend... on the same time I originally planned to go to the convention. Given the rational probabilities, if I hadn't noticed, you'd be alone at the castle. These can't be coincidences."

RJ managed to catch up. "You think the guy who tried to brainwash me is trying to send the others onto a bait so that I'd end up alone, without defense, and..." She gulped. "He's coming for me."

"Forget waiting until Saturday, we need to leave to Dubai _tomorrow_."

"But what do we tell Martin and Kronos?"

"We say that the bus got overbooked so we're trying to catch an earlier ride," Gilliard said. He pulled out his computer and began typing on his computer. RJ frowned when she noticed that whatever Gilliard was writing didn't make sense to her. "'The elephant is sitting on the mouse, so the snake has to move under the carpets in the house.' What?"

"It's a thing I managed to learn on my own when I used to be at HenchCo and that I shared with whoever I do business with," Gilliard explained. "In order to avoid national security hackers knowing what we're up to, we communicate through riddles. If the guy who brainwashed you managed to hack communications to make the Fiskes and my folks go away while I was at the 'convention' so you'd be alone, he might still be browsing the Internet.

"Camillo managed to pull a favor from Alva Electronique, one of our old Y.E.A.R.N buddies located in Dubai. I'm basically emailing him that authorities are after us, we need to go undercover." A ding came from his laptop. "He just answered. 'Pilaf is all over the floor. Must get you mops when I get home.' He's saying that we'll have to use fake names when we get those plane tickets. When we arrive, he'll provide us with disguises so that we can pass of as Turkish tourists."

"I'll get the supplies ready," RJ nodded and made her way to the door.

"What about Martin?"

RJ sighed as she hesitated to hold on to the doorknob. "I guess I'll have to say goodbye," she said sadly.

 _Later, in evening_

RJ didn't know what to feel when she knocked on Martin's door that night. Confusion could almost be second nature to her.

The door opened up. Martin was in a state worse than this morning, he almost looked like he was trying to be an all-nighter for the rest of his life.

"My parents want me to go join them at the Minalshari to fix Drakken's problem," he said flatly.

"Gilliard and I have to leave earlier tomorrow," she said in a similar tone. She let her fingers run through his black strands while she felt his hand holding her waist, pulling her inside of his chamber while his spare hand closed the door behind her.

"I'm sorry," he said, with a tone of begging.

"You don't need to apologize," she said calmly.

The author's pretty certain that there's no need to go into further details: on that night, Ronilda stopped being the naive child from the penthouse for good.

 _Meanwhile, in the US_

Dr. Possible and Will Du opened up their eyes when the loud wind whistling got their attention. They gasped when they saw they were tied up to the top of a radio tower, and judging by how they could see the top of skyscrapers rooted at the bottom, they had high chances of falling to their deaths should the chains break.

"You got any ideas, Melgo?" They heard a voice coming from the other side of Dr. Possible. Two teenage girls were tied up with them on the same pole. Will Du was the first to recognize them.

"The children of Killigan, Drakken, and Shego," he said sourly.

"I see my daughter's old enemies have families. How nice," the woman said with a smile.

"Oh, don't tell me!" Buffy groaned. "RJ's grandmother was Kim Possible's mother? You'd think a neurosurgeon would know better!"

"You know my granddaughter? Where is she? Is she alright? Has she managed to take care of herself?" Dr. Possible shook on her chains. "Where are we?"

"The Minalshari radio tower. We got kidnapped and sedated... Ayame got killed," Melgo said.

"Who?"

"The 'intern midwife' from Japan who helped your daughter give birth? Yeah, she's one of the Yamanouchi ninjas," Buffy said. "Did the creepy chick with the metal nails attack you as well?"

"Yes," Will Du said. "She broke into my office. Though I do not see why we are tied up just above the mythical sanctuary of villains..." He paused when he heard a strange beeping. They all looked up and saw that a strange antenna was perched on top of the pole they were tied up to.

"Uh, sounds like a warning beacon," the agent said. "Global Justice uses similar things when getting aircrafts to come to stations."

"In this case, it's spacecrafts," Melgo said grimly. "They're going to destroy the Minalshari as a distraction that could eliminate all obstacles."

"For what?" Dr. Possible asked.

"Dr. Possible, the Lorwardians are returning. They're coming for Ronilda."


	28. The Predator Is Out

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 28: The Predator Is Out

The rays of sunrise slipped through the curtains shielding the bed and hit Martin's face first. He opened his eyes, feeling colder than he had last night.

Well, only his chest area.

He was laying on his back, so he tried his best to tilt his head to look down and smile at _his Ronilda_. She was still sleeping, her arms hugging him while her bare skin and soft breathing sent him small breezes of love. The angel looked safe and sound with her devil, even the latter still couldn't believe what they went through last night. Positively speaking, the bond tightened in their relationship. Negatively speaking, he wished they did it for a time other than his genetic crisis.

 _At least it was timelier than it happened to my folks._ Martin froze at the thought. Now that _this_ happened, what would follow? He just deflowered a girl whom he truly loved but was still six years younger than him. If it weren't for the SWMC, Martin would have most likely done it if they had managed to keep it up between them for a year. Maybe marriage then? His mother expected grandchildren on the Monkey Year. _I'm sure it can wait. It's not like the world is going to end._

He felt Ronilda move. He looked down and saw her opening his eyes. "Morning," he said softly.

She gave him a small smile. "Hi." She blushed. "Sorry I used you for a pillow."

"It's nothing," he reassured her while stroking her smooth hair strands. "Just a shame that it will be a while until the next pleasant night."

"Indeed," she said, biting her lip. Martin frowned when he noticed the small upset expression she was trying to hide in her smiles.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

Ronilda just gave him a look. Right then, the door bursted open. Martin lifted up the bed sheet they shared to make sure that whoever just stepped in would not peak.

"Can't you knock?" Martin shouted when he recognized Gilliard's scent.

"Your curtains are already covering your bed," Gilliard said drily. "I put your clothes on the chair for the trip, RJ. It's going to be cool in _Nottingham_."

"Right," she nodded. Once Gilliard was out of the chamber, RJ sat up and pushed the curtain open. Martin didn't protest when she took his nightrobe to cover herself. He watched her grab her things and make her way out. Martin wasn't sure what to make out of this. _Maybe it's best that she gets her break this weekend._

He got up, took his shower, dressed, and got ready to head to the garage where the other family jet was parked. When he got there, he saw Gilliard and RJs doing their goodbyes to Kronos as he helped them put the two suitcases in the car trunk.

"Have a good trip," he said.

"Same here." Gilliard shook hands with his best friend and got on the driver's seat. Martin hesitated a bit when he faced RJ, but she responded first by kissing him, which he returned.

"Please be safe," she said when they were done.

"I will. Enjoy the convention."

RJ gave him a small nod and held his hand tightly before finally letting go and getting in the passenger seat. Martin looked on as Gilliard drove the car out of the castle and out of sight.

"For two teenagers going to a video game convention, they don't look very excited," Kronos remarked.

"At least they'll have more fun than me," Martin commented.

 _Close to noon later, on the top of the Minalshari radio tower_

The four captives struggled to get out of their bonds, which so far haven't worked in the last countless hours, and the antenna was beeping so loudly, they were certain that most of the city could hear it.

"We have to get out!" Melgo snapped. "Anytime now, the Lorwardians will send in the pods and it doesn't help that the Minalshari is hidden underground! My family, HenchCo, and the civilians will be buried alive!"

"I could send in a call from Global Justice to evacuate the city, but I need to be able to reach my communicator in my pocket!" Will Du failed to reach his pocket.

"I could try using my laser golf ball to get us out, but it's in my back pocket!" Buffy struggled as well.

"Wait, maybe I can reach it." Dr. Possible ran her right hand behind Buffy, causing the latter to laugh a bit when the woman searching through her pocket made her ticklish. Dr. Anne Possible gasped in victory when she held the golf ball in her hands. She accidentally hit the trigger and the golf ball released a laser beam that melted the chain.

"Spanking!" Buffy took her golf ball back once it shut down. "My prototype worked!"

"Hold on," Melgo scowled at her while Will Du began typing on his communicator. "You mean this thing is new and you didn't think it could damage us?"

Melgo got cut off when a large booming sound was heard. The four looked around to see if something exploded somewhere in the city. No smoke was in sight. Another booming sound occurred and Buffy picked up a small fragment that she felt landing on her head. It almost looked... like she was holding an electric piece designed to look like the sky. She looked up and urged the others to see what was going on. The artificial sky dome of the Minalshari was growing cracks that grew in sizes.

"It's happening," Melgo gasped.

"I just sent the message to GJ. Hopefully they get the message, but we must evacuate the city," Will Du said.

" _Attention all civilians_!"

They looked on. HenchCo jets were flying around the city, shooting holographic projections of Jack Hench. " _Proceed immediately to pack up whatever necessities and head to the tunnel! This is not a drill!_ "

Melgo frowned when she noticed that the holographic Jack Hench had a background that looked exactly like the convention center of the Minalshari.

" _Hench! The doors are all locked! We can't get out!_ " A female voice shouted off screen.

"Mom!" Melgo gasped.

"The creepy chick must have tricked all of the main rogues into getting locked up in the convention center!" Buffy gasped.

 _Meanwhile, just outside in the surface world_

Martin didn't even have time to find a landing spot when he saw giant pods shooting their way down from the sky and digging their way into the Minalshari's main area. They were trying to dig out the city, or more sadistically, trying to bury it and everyone in it alive.

His parents were in there.

 _Good thing Gilliard and RJ aren't here to see this,_ he said, partially relieved. He pushed the red button on the dashboard, unleashing the joystick that accessed the missiles dosed with MMP. Something that he and his parents purposely never used unless it was for a dire emergency.

He yanked it and fired one missile at the nearest giant pod, getting it electrocuted by red bolts. The pod wobbled, clearly weakened on the pressure point, but it didn't fully give in. It still kept digging, but now with the effectiveness of a puppy digging a hole in a backyard.

Martin checked the missile reserve. 23 left. He looked back at the pods. They had to be a double of the amount.

"This could take a while," he sighed as he flew the jet up to have a better areal view.

 _Meanwhile, in the Fiske Estate_

Kronos hummed as he cut the thorns off the roses in the garden. This seemed like one of his ideal when he had the castle all to himself and shaping up the garden was the best way to meditate.

That was, until he heard the distant mud puddle splashing just outside of the castle's barrier. Being a Homo Simius and a healer who spent most of his time alone from his kind, Kronos had managed to develop a sharp hearing. Especially if he was in a place where he was the only one, distant sounds could bounce on the walls to him.

He kept listening. As the walking sound on the mud got louder, he heard the faint sound of metal pounding through the earth. As if the owner was wearing metal on his foot.

Then, he heard it. A horrifying scratching sound of metal on the castle's stone barrier. He could tell that the scratching left a good thickness of three inches through the rock.

The 'visitor' wasn't friendly at all.

He dropped his gardening material and rushed to the garden's stonewall. He searched through the stones until he turned two of them in a counterclockwise patter. A pathway opened up for him and closed once he was in. It was a tunnel that helped the others in the castle connect with one another should the place be invaded. Also, it had a few peeping holes, so Kronos could spy on the intruder. He peaked and saw not one, but three figures. All of them were dressed in black full-body suits with metal protections and helmets that completely shielded their heads and faces. They were so well covered, he couldn't even tell if they were male or female.

"Well?" One of the figures demanded to the other. The figure's voice was female, and judging by how she was the only one with purple colored metal protection, Kronos had to assume she was the leader.

"This is wrong," the second figure said, also with a female voice, while looking at the front of the castle. "The girl is supposed to be in the castle, but I can't find her heat signature anywhere."

"You don't think she left with her boyfriend, do you?" The third figure, also female sounding, asked.

"With all the bounty we have offered by our client, I highly doubt he expected her to be with the other villains while their sanctuary becomes the underworld," the leading figure said.

Kronos gasped. It became clear to him that these three dames were hired by the fiend who had brainwashed RJ. _The man must have purposely made sure that the Fiskes and the other villains would be out of the way while the dames came to collect RJ._

What should he do? He couldn't fight off three dames purposely hired to kidnap, they'd most likely be able to subdue him. If he let himself be caught, he would most likely be interrogated.

An idea finally came to him. He made his way through the tunnel until it led him right to the nearest telephone in the hallway. He grabbed the phone and, like any child playing phone calls, he did a fake call.

"Gilliard? It's me, Kronos. Did you manage to catch your train to Scotland? Good. Good." He briefly glanced at the mirror near him. The leading figure must have heard him, since she was clawing her way up the ceiling like an upside down feline. "Oh, is RJ doing well? What you mean, she ran off to wander around the Loch Ness monster?" He faked turning his head as if he had just spotted a mud stain on the nearest Greek vase. He grabbed it... and yanked right at the head of the leading figure before she could strike on him. It barely made a dent on her helmet, but it still made her see stars and she got paralyzed by the cloud of dust that made her suit sting.

"The dust of Hypnos," Kronos bragged to her as she fell on the floor. "Works whenever you have intruders. Don't worry. You'll be de-paralyzed in 12 hours."

" _Boss, do you copy? What's going on?_ " The voice of the second figure said through a speaker somewhere in the leading figure's helmet.

"Make a head start..." The leading figure said. "The girl is in Scotland, near the Loch Ness. Move on and keep her busy until I come back from finishing off some dead meat."

" _Copy._ " The speaker buzzed off. Kronos, confused, ran to the window and saw the paralyzed woman's friends making their way away from the hotel.

"I don't get it," he said baffled. "You found out I tricked you. I paralyzed you and instead of calling for help, you send off your teammates. Why?"

The leading figure started laughing and jumping her body despite her paralyzed state. Kronos looked at her disturbingly as she wriggled like a spineless fish laughing its head off like a maniac. Except this fish kept scratching her metal nails on the floor.

"Knowing human nature, you freaks will give the hint I need to find the girl," she said when she calmed down. "Naturally, once I hand her over to my client and he's through with her, who's to stop me from destroying my greatest nemesis?"

 _Back at the Minalshari_

Melgo banged on the doors of the convention center. Even Dr. Possible tried to pull on the handle.

"It's no use! It's locked!" She turned to Buffy. "Can't you throw exploding golf balls?"

"I can't! The creepy chick took all of them except the prototype one!" Buffy shook her hands.

Will Du got off his communicator. "Global Justice and HenchCo have come with a temporary truce. As we are talking, they are helping evacuate the civilians to one of our underground refugee bases. Also, it appears that a Fiske plane was spotted outside destabilizing the digging pods with missiles!"

BANG! The artificial sky shook even more, only now, bigger debris was falling. Dr. Possible pulled Melgo and Buffy out of the way before a big chunk could hit them.

Banging came from the door. Melgo gasped when she saw her parents, who had spotted her from inside and banged the doors to reach out to her to no avail. "Mom! Dad!"

"Melgo!"

"INCOMING!"

A bunch of monster trucks raced their way in, with Edina and her father Motor Ed on the lead.

"Cuz, move out of the way! Seriously!" Edina shouted.

The group moved out of the way. When the villains trapped inside the convention center realized what was happening, they went to the far other side. Edina, Motor Ed, and the other drivers did a turn and seriously backed up viciously right into the building. The wall broke and the vehicles moved up to let the villains out through the hole.

"Everyone in! Seriously!" Motor Ed shouted. They all listened to him and started climbing up the monster trucks. The drivers helped them get comfortable on the seats. Once everyone was in the monster trucks, Motor Ed straightened his goggles. "Let's bail! Seriously!"

They hit the brakes and drove as fast as they could, dogging the debris that crumbled upon the city. All the villains looked in horror as their one sanctuary was annihilated. Buffy and many of the teenagers gasped at the sight of the mall being destroyed. Melgo hugged her parents desperately when earth fell right onto their apartment. Even Gill and Secretary Magali, who were divorced, held each other tightly when they saw the HenchCo HQ under destruction.

Dr. Possible knew what the villains felt. It was not the first time she saw the world ending, and even though most of the people she was now with during the escape of this crumbling underworld were her daughter's old foe, she could see that they dreaded the safety of their families now that the aliens returned.

The monster trucks managed to make it out. They followed the GJ carriers, who had managed to come and collect all of the refugees. Just then, something fell out of the sky and landed right on top of Edina's monster truck.

"Hairy Hands Junior!" Melgo exclaimed. Drakken wasted no time and kicked the door open, pulling Martin Fiske in. "You OK?"

"No, I just forced my jet to crash-land onto the pods!" Martin exclaimed.

An explosion came from behind, causing a fire that managed to destroy the pods but also guarantee the destruction of the Minalshari.

 _Later_

The refugees had been placed in a safety base just underground, far below the sewage level. GJ was working on providing them food, medication, and protection while Dr. Director and the villains discussed the matter at hand. Just as they had arrived at the base, Kronos had teleported to join his masters and base. They were shocked to find him carrying the body of one of the intruders who tried to break into the Fiske Castle.

"The other two think that RJ is in Scotland," Kronos explained while they observed the 'woman' showing no resistance as she was placed in a cell made of glass far more solid than titanium. "I still don't understand why she let her comrades astray and expects us to give her the answer, but all that I know is that she and her crew were hired to capture RJ and bring her back to her clients."

"I still can't believe the lassie is Possible's offspring and you three didn't even notice it!" Killigan told the Fiskes. All three of them were sitting, unwilling to give out an expression of any sort. Were they confused? Upset? Enraged? Betrayed? Heartbroken? Shocked to learn that the child they grew fond of was their enemy's blood? Martin looked the most speechless.

Killigan turned to Drakken and Shego. "You two knew, didn't you?" He asked roughly.

"Knock it off!" Melgo said defensively. "How could my parents know any of this?"

Drakken tapped his fingers nervously. "Uh... Melgo... There's something that your mother and I need to tell you."

"You guys knew?" Melgo asked drily.

The duo looked nervously at the expecting eyes before turning to Dr. Possible, who gave them an understanding nod.

Shego sighed. "Years ago, we were involved with Team Possible in the fight against the Lorwardians the first time they tried to invade Earth. The public version of the story was that Drew saved the day with his plant powers, end of story. But we lied."

"The truth was that the buffoon, Kim Possible's sidekick, used his monkey power to kill off the Lorwardians," Drakken said.

"You expect me to believe that Stoppable vanquished an entire army?" Monkey Fist said emotionless.

"Actually, it was just two Lorwardians and lots of pods. My plants were able to destroy the pods, but the two aliens, Warhawk and Warmonga, were too hard to challenge directly. Even Possible and Shego could not match them."

"But when they threatened Kimmie, Stoppable stepped up and used his powers to toss them into their crashing ship," Shego said. "He didn't want the public to know he saved the day."

"Why not?" Dr. Director asked.

"Not wanting the credit? Maybe he thought that he might cause fear. After all, he literally picked up two _seven-feet-tall_ aliens with his bare hands glowing blue."

"We still kept in touch after the invasion was over and those kids went in retirement," Drakken nodded. "Respective invitation to our weddings, and initially appointing one another as godparents for the girls. We did see Ronilda a few times when she was a baby... but then there were the news of Dr. James Possible's death in the space station explosion and Ronilda's apparent death to an unexpected disease." He turned to Dr. Possible. "Though I still don't understand why a former neurosurgeon like you went through this."

"Believe me, I regret what I did," Dr. Anne Possible said. "I still don't know the real reason why Kim wanted Ronilda hidden and presumed dead."

"She feared the Fiskes would kill her," Buffy said bluntly.

The Fiskes stared at her. "What?" They said in unison.

"Yeah, the Yamanouchi who posed as the midwife said that Kim Possible went paranoid because of the headlines 'Guess What! The Sensei of Yamanouchi Has Been Murdered By Martin Fiske, His Parents Are Back, And Oh There's A Chance They Might Kill Your Kid If They Find Out She Also Has MMP!'" Buffy shrugged. "Then again, when you think about it, you'd probably do it."

"I don't know anymore..." The Simian Witch groaned.

"I can't tell. Maybe I would have done it if I first knew she was Stoppable's child..." Monkey Fist said hesitated. "But she's nothing like her parents and she had been a bit of a delight in the castle."

"Aw," Dr. Possible said.

Martin got up and cracked his knuckles. Everyone gulped, expecting him to say something negative, until he said: "I am _really_... going to carve my claws into the aliens' skulls."

"Uh... Is this Martin Fiske?" Edina asked. "I don't recognize him. Seriously."

"Yes, it's true that I usually prefer the family honor over anyone else's opinions..." He then screamed at Edina's face. "BUT I WILL BE SHEDDING BLOOD IF THESE JACKASSES DO ANYTHING TO RONILDA!"

"Huh, it's Stoppable all over again," Shego said.

"So... What now?" Secretary Magali. "We're completely unprepared. We don't know when they will strike next."

"But we know what they want." Kronos turned to the surveillance camera showing the prisoner in her cell. She was sitting rather peacefully on the floor and her helmet head faced the camera.

"She knows we're watching and listening," Dr. Director realized.

"She's after RJ... for reasons other than just what her 'client' wants," Kronos said. "She purposely let her comrades on a wild goose chase and allowed herself to be captured. She must expect to snatch the information she needs on RJ's whereabouts and then break out."

"I'll send in an interrogator," Dr. Director said.

"If you don't mind," Martin walked up to her, "I'll do it myself."


	29. Answers Are Best Elsewhere

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 29: Answers Are Best Elsewhere

Under the watchful eye of the surveillance cameras, Martin waited as the door opened and he walked up to the chair. He sat down and faced the sell of the fully cloaked woman. While he waited to begin his interrogation, GJ scientists were on their computers while the others observed the discussion.

"For an alien, you have some nerve," Martin was the first to speak coldly.

"Thank you," the prisoner said behind the solid glass wall that separated them. "Though 'alien' is a bit rough. Sure, Crown Heights is a tough neighborhood..."

"Wait, what?" Martin blinked.

"Oh, right. I keep forgetting." She held her hands up to her helmet. Martin heard a clicking sound and saw her taking off her helmet.

"What the Hell?" Dr. Director said when she saw what was going on in the cameras.

They had all expected some kind of green skinned alien. Instead, they were looking at a nineteen-year-old human girl. She had the basics of a pretty Caucasian girl with shoulder length brown hair, hazel eyes, and lovely facial features, the kind of girl who'd drive a motorcycle with that outfit of hers, but then the image was ruined by her 'faults'. The tips of her hair had been curled up to make it look like she had spikes growing from her shoulders. Faint blue and purple veins could be seen growing from her neck to the bottom of her eyes, and in them were small lights blinking.

"You're human?" Martin was shocked. "Why on earth would you turn against your own planet?"

She stood up and hit the glass wall that separated them, making her metal claws leave tiny scratches. "You think this is _voluntary_?" She snarled and waved her hands up and down her body. "Look at me! Half of me is full of alien nanotechnology, turning me into a half human, half alien tech bionic being trained by my captors to become a full-service mercenary and assassin!"

"So you were kidnapped," Martin said calmly. Still, seeing the scratches she left on her cell's glass walls was unnerving. "Did the Lorwardians make you into... this?"

"Nope." She leaned and tapped her metal claws on the glass, making the noises sound like a creepy clock ticking. "The alien race that made me what I am is made of only _providers._ Though they are as psychotic as the Lorwardians, only with different techniques."

"I don't get it," Martin shook her head.

"You know how it worked with slaves back in the old days? Europe provided them to the colonies, but they get those slaves from another nation. They don't sell their own. It's a similar thing with the Felindrax."

"The race that kidnapped you."

"No, the race that gave me cookies." The girl rolled her eyes before waving her hands and shouting: "OF COURSE IT'S THE RACE THAT KIDNAPPED ME! It's the way they work: instead of shedding their own blood, they kidnap little girls from other planets, force them to go through operations, and train them with the promise that whoever steps up to be the best of their 'force' will gain the key to her freedom. Basically, it's like gods creating the Amazons and bribing them with actual life if they fight for them." She sat back down on the floor. "I was only six when I was taken from Earth. It will be the 14th anniversary in July."

"I'm...sorry?" Martin said, confused about why he was feeling a bit of sympathy for her.

"I don't need your pity," she said drily. "Honestly, I could care less of what you people think of me. In a matter of time, it won't matter. When my client is through with his plans, I'll be pulling the key to my freedom and getting my life back... That is, once I shed the blood of the girl."

Martin punched on the glass wall. "What do you want with her and who on Earth is your client?"

"He's one of the biggest madmen in the universe," she shrugged. "Honestly, his 'avenging plan' is just a big blow for what he plans to do on his own planet. Talk about a guy with a big ego. As for what I want with your girlfriend... you'd better ask your mom."

A ringing tone with the tune of 'Gold Digger' came out of her pocket. The girl gave an awkward frozen smile and held out a finger of 'Not a word' to Martin. She pulled out some form of purple space PDA and tapped on it. A voice came from the device. " _Hey, boss! Where are you?_ "

"Trolling the enemy. I let them capture me so that I could find out where the girl is. Turns out that the whole 'She's-in-Scotland' claim was just a ruse from the healer. You know, a hoax like the Loch Ness Monster."

 _Thank goodness_ , Martin sighed mentally. Hopefully she doesn't find out that RJ is actually in Nottingham.

" _Yeah, we kind of figured it out two when we got there. But then we went all over the country. The girl's nowhere in England._ "

"What?" The metal-clawed girl was clutching her device.

" _Oh, and Diamona went all over Nottingham. She couldn't find the fish anywhere._ "

"Fish? What... AAAH!" The girl screamed so loud, almost everyone in the base had to cover their ears. It's a miracle that the glass of her cell didn't break. Martin covered his ear and made his way out. "THE FISH MUTANT KNEW! FIND HIM AND WE FIND THE GIRL! FIRST ONE TO FIND A CLUE NOTIFIES THE OTHERS AND WE MEET UP IN WHATEVER PIT HE'S HIDING THE BRAT!"

Martin got to the room where the other's waited him. "That is one agitated young lady," Señor Senior (x2) remarked as he kept looking at the surveillance camera.

"Gilliard's not in Nottingham," Martin said. "Therefore, RJ's not there."

"Phew!" Melgo and Buffy sighed in relief.

"Why would Ronilda go to Nottingham?" Dr. Possible asked the Fiskes.

"Well she and Gilliard said that she decided to come with him to this video game convention this weekend." The Simian Witch rubbed her chin in thought. "But I thought they were leaving tomorrow."

"They left this morning, mistress," Kronos lowered his head. "At the last minute, most of the trains or buses were overbooked, so they took an earlier ride leaving today. Though judging by what we found out, they lied."

"I feel both relieved and insulted that my best friend and my girlfriend lied to me," Martin said.

"Gilliard did say he did not get the same alumni gathering invitation that we got," Gil Moss raised his hand. "Knowing him, he must have figured out that the villains being gathered for different reasons on the same day at the Minalshari was a trick."

"Guess he is smart," Secretary Magali rolled her eyes.

"But if he and RJ are not in Nottingham or in England," Monkey Fist said, "then where are they?"

 _Meanwhile_

The plane landed in the Dubai International Airport just a bit around sunset. Once they got out of the gate, they rushed to the bathroom. Alva had given them instructions of going to the bathrooms as soon as they arrive, find the package covered in waterproof paper hidden in the toilet, and put on their disguises to pass on as Turkish tourists. Ten minutes later, RJ came out wearing a black long-sleeved, ankle-length dress with purple Mullein flower petals, a beige veil, black sunglasses, and black flats. Gilliard shielded himself in a black thawb that covered most of his scaly areas, beige gloves, sunglasses, boots, and a turban.

They easily made it through security with their false papers, and since RJ knew how to speak and read Arabic, the guards barely blinked in mistrust. They managed to buy the idea of Americans living in Turkey who decided to go to Dubai on vacation.

Alva Electronique waited for them by the exit. He didn't need some kind of name sign or to wave his hand to indicate his position to them. Even with his dark blue thawb, turban, and sunglasses, Gilliard and RJ could see the small sparks of electricity that glitched through the blue skin he was hiding. He brought them to the van he had parked in the airport's parking lot and drove them through the streets bordered by palm streets. RJ looked through the window, fascinated to be in the United Arabs Emirates.

"I managed to use my links to get you guys in a spot not too far from where Pablo Preston is staying," Alva said as he drove the van.

"Where's he staying?" Gilliard asked.

"The Sheikh's vacation palace in the Dubai Marina. Since the Sheikh is doing the welcoming speech before Preston officially reveals himself and inaugurates the park's opening."

"Has the Sheikh seen Pablo Preston's face?" RJ briefly looked away from the window.

"Nope. The famous faceless billionaire wears a turban and a veil covering half of his face whenever he visits an Arabic country." Alva made a left turn. "Not even the royalty or Prime Ministers and other governmental leaders have seen his face."

They hit heavy traffic for a while. As they passed many touristic neighborhoods, Old Dubai, and several souks, they saw a large amount of streets full of people lining up to go to mosques. While some of these people looked like tourists, most of them were religious people rushing to pray in the religious buildings, and if they couldn't do it indoors, they were groveling on the sidewalk.

"What's going on?" RJ asked as she saw what was going on in the streets.

"Religious paranoia. It's been going on since yesterday," Alva turned to look from his window at the scene outside. "Since yesterday morning, people have been going crazy, raving about how they had visions of Iblis coming to the Earth."

"They're afraid of ibises?" Gilliard frowned.

" _Iblis_ ," RJ corrected him. "The Quran version of Satan. An angel casted out of Heaven. The Muslim also believe that the ones from above who supported Iblis became djinns."

"You're very cultured," Alva nodded in impressment.

"Any reason why they think Satan came?" Gilliard asked.

"Beats me." Alva shrugged. "Though let's not question them."

RJ and Gilliard nodded. The former went back to looking at the people praying outside. Then she thought she had seen a phantom. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. It could not be possible.

There was no way she just saw Helga Ottoski dressed in a black veil and robe, groveling with the Muslims and winking at RJ.

RJ shook her head.

"Is everything OK?" Gilliard asked RJ.

She looked back outside. The old lady was nowhere in sight.

"The Netherfield crone... I thought I just saw her," RJ looked confused.

"The crone that hit you with a stick?" Gilliard frowned. "Why do you think you just saw that homeless witch here in Dubai?"

"Considering how she disappeared the last time I spoke to her in England..." RJ began.

"I think the whole talk about Iblis and your long flight have confused you," Alva said patiently.

They continued driving. A good driving later, they arrived in the fancy neighborhood where the hotel was. Even though the hotel was modernly fancy, it was nothing compared to the royal vacation palace that was right across the street from the hotel. A giant palace made of white marble and golden linings, twice the height of the hotel, a large garden surrounding the building, and a fence that could be four times the height of the guards if they chose to stand on each other's shoulders.

"Man, the amount of cash rich people pour out just to get their vacation," Gilliard whistled at the sight of the palace when they got out of the van. Alva picked up their luggage for them. RJ came out last and paused a bit to admire the view. Her admiration stopped once she saw Helga Ottoski making yet another appearance, this time staring at her while seemingly waiting for the pedestrian light to turn on. RJ quickly glanced at the boys, who were still talking. She groaned and rushed to where Helga Ottoski was standing.

"What the heck are you doing here?" She asked.

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," the crone shrugged.

"Bad thing? Last time we met, you were a homeless old lady who hit me with a stick, apologized later, and revealed you knew my name before vanishing!" RJ hissed. "What the heck are you doing in the streets of Dubai dressing up as a Muslim?"

"What? I'm culturally sensitive when I move. You think you're the only human I pop visits to whenever she needs counseling?"

"Human?" RJ frowned. The pedestrian walking light appeared. Helga Ottoski pulled out her stick and walked slower than a turtle onto the road. RJ followed her. Judging by how slow the crone was moving, RJ felt like she was the hare desperately waiting for the tortoise to move it. "What do you mean, 'whenever I need counseling'? For what? In case I run into an antisemite idiot while I'm here?"

"Silly girl!" Helga Ottoski laughed and patted her on the shoulder. "And they call me old fashion! Ha, ha!"

"RJ scowled. "You know, I'm starting to think that Gilliard wasn't kidding when he called you a witch."

"And I'm starting to think that you need to stop that car from hitting you." Helga Ottoski pointed her stick behind RJ. The latter turned and yelped when she saw a black SUV rushing towards her. She held out her hands and used her MMP to grab the car by the front and fry its systems, running it out of fuel on the spot.

The driver, some Middle Eastern guy in a black suit and sunglasses, came out of his vehicle and shouted at her in Arabic: "Woman! What is wrong with you? Get out of my road?"

"Excuse me? EXCUSE ME?" RJ exclaimed. She walked up to the jerk and gave him the beating of a lifetime. "You. Do. Not. Hit. A. Lady. WITH YOUR CAR! **ESPECIALLY IN A PUBLIC PLACE!** "

"Please! Have a mercy!" He begged. By the time she started using Tai Shing Pek Kwar to continue beating him, his buddies came out from the van only to cringe in fright at the white female who just made their associate get the concussion of a lifetime. When she was done, she glared at them.

"Please don't hit us!" They begged. One of them grabbed some ten-year-old boy in fancy Indian clothing and forced him into her arms. "Here, take the kid! But we beg you, do not hurt us! We surrender!"

"What?" She looked confused at the kid.

Right when Gilliard and Alva rushed to the scene, a fancy limousine and police cars pulled in. The officers immediately ran to handcuff the men from the van while a woman in a fancy Indian dress and a tiara came out of the limousine.

"Dev! Dev, my sweetie!" She cried.

"Mommy!" The boy hugged the woman once she took him into her own arms.

"Hey, you're Parvati Durga, the daughter of India's Prime Minister and the wife of the Crown Prince Amir of the United Arab Emirates," Alva gasped at the woman. He turned to RJ. "You accidentally saved the Sheikh's grandson!"

"Hey, everyone!" Some bystander shouted. "The white American dressed as a Turkish just saved the Sheikh's grandson!" This got everyone's attention. Soon enough, people were taking pictures while guards were protecting a middle-aged Emirati man in fancy clothing who came out of the limousine to join Ms. Durga.

"Worse case scenario I can imagine," Gilliard said. "A zombie possessed the Sheikh and he's going to kill us for public disturbance."

"Thank you for saving my grandson! You are now my honored guests!" The Sheikh bowed to RJ.

"Or... we're actually going to sleep in his vacation house rather than at the hotel," Gilliard sighed.

 _Back in the Global Justice refugee base_

Dr. Anne Possible stepped in the empty food court near the conference room. Her original intent of going there was to get a cup of coffee after getting directions from one of the agents. She lost interest in wanting a beverage when she found Martin Fiske being the only living being sitting at a table. He was poking his spoon into a bowl of porridge, and judging by the expression on his face, she could tell he wasn't really hungry.

She sighed and walked up to him slowly. "May I?" She pointed at the seat facing him.

Martin said nothing. He kept digging aimlessly at his bowl. Dr. Possible felt worse when she saw his expression getting even more miserable. She pulled the chair back and sat down. Most of the next 120 seconds were her tapping her fingers or him letting the gooey porridge cascade out of his spoon.

"So, you and Ronilda, huh?" She said with a small, hesitant smile.

He said nothing, merely dropping his spoon and letting it drown in the porridge. He sat upstraight at the woman and glared at her with his grey eyes. "Why did a former neurosurgeon like you go through your daughter's irrational idea of the sheltering equivalence of house arrest? You knew from the start it was a bad idea. Why did you go along?"

Dr. Possible rubbed her thumbs. "I'm only the grandparent. I can only respect the wishes my children have on how they think their kids should be raised. Even if they might seem bad."  
Martin crossed his arms, unwilling to accept such truth.

"Don't you think your parents would have done a similar thing? Taking a decision that would cost trust and rationality, but all of it was done to protect their child?"

Martin's expression softened a bit. He still remembered the reason he was the only Fiske to be non-affected by the Yono's curse. The Simian Witch had purposely left him home supervised while she and Monkey fist went to unearth Yono and gain the Han. He still remembered his toddler self eagerly expecting his parents to come from the front door victorious... only to see the footage of their defeat and turned into stones that sank into the earth. The next years of his childhood had been to prepare for when he shed the Yamanouchi Sensei's blood and neutralized the Yono's curse, freeing his parents.

"A bit," he said. "Does Ronilda _honestly_ know nothing about her parents?"

The doctor nodded. "The only things I told her was that they left her to be protected... and that she was named as a female version of 'Ronald'. She complained that it sounded like a witch's name."

Martin let out a small chuckle.

"Her jumping off her bedroom window down a building that was seventy-stories tall scared me," she bit her lip. "It was only when I came home from shopping supplies that I noticed she hadn't eaten the breakfast I left for her in the fridge. When I went into her room, I found her window open... and a long cord attached to the pipe sticking out of the wall."

"Is it in the female Possible genes to be insane?" He asked.

"I don't know. She didn't show any signs of being like Kim or Ron. But since I got told that she got his Mystical Monkey Power..."

"I still can't believe I never connected the dots." Martin bothered to eat porridge. "But she's nothing like her parents..."

"So it's real?" Dr. Possible asked cautiously. "You two being together?"

"We've only actually started dating a week ago. On her birthday."

"Aw, how sweet." The woman was actually touched. "You know, I never pictured it in my head, but it's kind of sweet how you and the other villains seem to really like Ronilda... before you just found out she was my granddaughter."

"Why wouldn't they?" Martin began to sound happy. "She's smart, she's not afraid to speak up her mind, she learns thing very quickly, she shares things in common with the others... and honestly, you'll never meet someone who tries to keep you away by having you microchiped to be chased and threatens to reveal your secrets if you don't let her teach you dancing."

"What? She did that?"

"It's a long story." He rolled his eyes. "She's just exceptional."

"I see." Dr. Possible smiled. "I guess she _can_ do anything like her mom. Well, except Kim had Wade to back her up for missions."

Martin's face lit up. "THE COMPUTER GEEK! THAT'S IT! THANK YOU, DR. POSSIBLE!" He ran out of the food court, leaving the woman baffled.

 _Later, back in Dubai_

It was past bedtime. Gilliard and Alva were already passed out in the guest chamber the Sheikh had given them during their stay at his palace. His son the Crown Prince was tucking the sweet Dev in bed while in the private chambers that RJ received, Parvati Durga was having late night tea with her son's savior.

"I can't thank you enough for saving my son, Ms. RJ," Parvati said as she poured Persian tea from a silver kettle into a teacup that she offered to RJ. "He means the world to me and Amir."

"It was a bit of an accident, but I'm glad I could help." RJ took a sip of tea, which was incredibly well brewed. "Why was your son kidnapped anyway?"

"To get the Sheikh's attention no doubt, we still aren't sure why he was kidnapped." Parvati put her teakettle down. "My father, the Prime Minister of India, thinks that it's because Dev is the product of two powerful countries joined together. Dev is popular as my father's grandson and he's also well-known for being Amir's heir. You know, once Amir becomes Sheikh, Dev will be the Crown Prince.

"But my Emirati in-laws dare to contradict." She rolled her eyes and drank some tea. "They think Iblis wants to harm the royal blood."

"We did see some people on our way here who claimed they had visions of Iblis. At least, that's what Alva says they're doing." RJ looked at the open window that gave a lovely view to the palace's gardens and let in a soft breeze that brushed the silky curtains. "Twice today, I thought I saw a homeless crone that I met only once in England. Maybe Gilliard was right when he said I was tired from the flight."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Parvati sliced some _chapatti_ and gave a plate with a couple of the slices to RJ, who gladly accepted. "People always think that if they see an angel or somebody with an angel's personality, then it must mean that its demon counterpart will show up. God has Iblis, and angels have djinns. You saved my son and convinced most of my family, the religious witnesses, and others that you are a servant to God. It only makes sense if you see a hallucination of some crone."

"I don't think she's evil." RJ drank tea. "Well, the first time we met, she hit me with a stick, but then she apologized and vanished. I haven't seen her ever since... until now. I still fail to understand what a homeless Jewish woman from England is doing all the way here, in Dubai."

"Perhaps she's one of those omens." Parvati shook her head and drank some tea. "Aside from the crone, what brought you to Dubai in the first place? You really don't look like you actually came here for tourism."

"Is it that obvious?" RJ took a bite of _chapatti._

Parvati nodded.

RJ swallowed her bite. She put her plate of _chapatti_ back on the table. "The real reason I came to Dubai... is that my friend and I suspect I might actually... be related to Pablo Preston, the CEO of Bueno Nacho. It might sound stupid, I know. I have no proof."

Parvati nodded. "And since he's supposed to reveal his face at the opening of the theme park weekend, you'd hope you meet him and see if he recognized you?"

"In a way." Honestly, what chances did she have? Her father hadn't seen her in 14 years. What odds could he have of recognizing his only child?

"Well, the odds might just as well be in your favor. Pablo Preston is the guest of my father-in-law until the first day of the park is done. He'll be busy for most of the day, but tomorrow night, he's required to attend a VIP gala the Sheikh is holding in honor of Preston's inauguration of the park. Since you saved my son's life..."

"Your Highness, I couldn't ask for that much." RJ shook her head.

"Please, it's I can do after what you did." The woman nodded. "And you may call me Parvati for short."

RJ nodded. Once the tea session was over, the servants came to collect the dishes.

"Do get some sleep, my friend," Parvati told RJ with a smile before the latter got ready to go to bed. "Tomorrow will be a big day for you."


	30. The Enemy's Breath

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 30: The Enemy's Breath

"YOU PEOPLE ARE IMBECILES!"

That was all Martin had to say to Dr. Director the next day, when after he suggested contacting Wade Load to help them find Ronilda without giving the slightest clue to the prisoner... only for Dr. Director to confess they had lost all contact with the computer genius when the Kim Possible website shut down for good.

"We tried everything," she said. "Emails, video messages, phone numbers, and even dropping by his house for a visit. He actually moved."

"Great Lord, your daughter was _really_ overprotective!" Martin glared at Dr. Possible.

"To be fair, she never thought of the possibility of Ronilda running away _and_ she mostly got the overprotective streak from her father's side of the family."

"We could just call Gilliard and ask them where they are," Monkey Fist said.

"No." Secretary Magali shook her head. "Knowing my son, he must have figured the aliens hacked the Internet or any other form of communication. If we try contacting him, we might as well text the enemy 'Guess what, they're here.'"

A door opened and one of the GJ scientists came in carrying some printed papers showing X-Ray and diagnostics. "Dr. Director, the scientists and I did our best to study the prisoner. The DNA scanning was tricky to conclude because of the alien nanotechnology and purple energy blurring quite an amount, but here is what we have for the moment." He showed Dr. Director the research. "The durability, strength, and speed of at least ten superhuman beings. Her bones are infused with a metal stronger than titanium that can withstand most pain. Her human mind is already highly intelligent, strategic, and cunning."

"The perfect combo for brains and brawns," Melgo said. "What about her claws? Are they like her bones? Enhanced by the metal?"

"No." The scientist showed her the X-Ray they had taken of the arms. "Artificial appendages. She confirmed herself that her human nails had been removed off her fingers and replaced by the metal ones when she was ten. Apparently, her Felindrax captors thought it would make it easier for her to kill with these 'perfections'."

"She was the only one in the trio to have them," Kronos remarked. "They must have thought she'd make an excellent killer."

"Wait until you hear about her teeth," the scientist said in a rather disturbingly excited tone. "Based on the research and our curiosity that she bothered to answer, her 'creators' had ripped off all her baby teeth and forced the adult ones to grow out in a sped up fashion so that the teeth could be enforced by the metal just like the rest of her bones. Her teeth look like normal, perfectly healthy human teeth, only they have the sharp capacity of a machine in a slaughterhouse."

"Seriously, what do these aliens have for hobbies? Seriously," Edina said, rather disgusted.

"They make weapons out of children and use them as mercenaries or assassins," Martin said as he looked at the screen showing said 'living weapon' with her eyes glued on her PDA while sitting in her prison as if she were a random teenager on her phone. "Clients hire them to capture somebody... or kill it. Or dispose of anyone who gets in the way. Now that I think about it... the Felindrax probably kidnap girls from other planets because it gives them a perspective of these planets." He pointed at the screen. "She might be bionic, but she knows how humans think and behave. Like how she knows she'll find out where Ronilda is... by letting herself get captured."

"I don't want to imagine what goes on in her head, especially with that purple energy killing her," the scientist sighed as he piled the files back together.

"What did you say?" Kronos gasped.

"Aside from the alien technology, a purple energy is acting as an internal parasite and infecting her. Its primary locations are in her throat and surrounding her heart. So far, we can't tell if it's some kind of gas she inhaled or if her blood is infected. All she'd tell us on it is that 'only the girl's blood staining the ground can save her'."

"I can understand the obsession, but not how murder can cure her." Martin shook his head.

" _ASK YOUR MOM_!" The prisoner shouted to the camera. The adults and teenagers shuddered at the sight, troubled that it was like she could hear their entire conversations.

"The Violet Death," Buffy gasped.

"What?" Killigan looked at her in confusion.

" _Thank you!_ " The prisoner shouted at the camera.

"How do you know about that?" Kronos walked up to Buffy. "Only the past healers of the Simian Witches knew that..."

"The intern that Yamanouchi sent to pose as a midwife?" Buffy looked at Kronos. "She said Yamanouchi found out at the last minute that as the Ultimate Monkey Master, Stoppable wasn't supposed to have children."

"What is this rubbish?" Monkey Fist got up. "You're telling me that my life's work would have been wasted anyway because of some rule?"

"Apparently, having the title was like being a monk. Also... the MMP thing? It's supposed to be the empowered essence of some blue-colored space god that banished a violet-colored space goddess into a black hole because she wanted to corrupt mortals. The Japanese woman said that Yamanouchi found out... if the Ultimate Monkey Master had a child... S... She..." Buffy exploded into sobbing.

"There, there, lassie." Killigan gave her a soft hug in his big arms.

"RJ is supposed to die fighting that space goddess!" Buffy let her tears soak her father's shirt.

" _Took you long enough,_ " the bionic girl smirked from her cell to the screen.

"So that's what you mean when you said 'pulling the key to freedom'", the Simian Witch glared at the screen. "You're the reincarnation of the Violet Death!"

" _I am NOT her reincarnation!_ " The prisoner punched the glass walls. She then dropped on her knees and began to cough. The scientists and agents guarding her cell got up in concern, even the villains, Dr. Possible, and Dr. Director looked horrified when they saw purple-stained red blood being spat out onto the floor. The bionic girl wiped the blood of her mouth, staining the back of her hand while her coughing slowed down. " _Really? You have to be a drama queen?_ "

" _ **I DON'T HAVE ALL ETERNITY! FIND ROYAL'S HOST AND SLAY IT! I WANT HER BLOOD STAINING THE STONES!**_ " She shouted, only with a bold, deep voice that sounded nothing like her regular one. She then spoke normally. " _I'm almost there... I still have to find her..."_

" _ **THAN YOU'D BETTER MAKE IT QUICK IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO DESTROY WHATEVER LIVING CELL YOU HAVE LEFT!**_ "

The prisoner gasped and fell on her back. " _Sorry,_ " she apologized to the horrified public.

"So... is it safe to guess that the Felindrax forced her essence into you?" Melgo asked cautiously.

" _Go get yourself an A+,"_ the prisoner said drily. " _The Felindrax were the guardians of the black hole she was trapped in. Naturally, once she found out that Royal chose to fully reincarnate in the Ultimate Monkey Master's only child and inheritor, she 'gave her followers a vision' and they temporarily hid her in a temple. They then lied to their 'alien warriors' that whoever stepped up in training and missions would get the right to have the key to her freedom._ "

"And you stepped up. You wanted freedom so badly, you didn't realize it would cost you by becoming her host."

"Don't do it," Dr. Anne Possible begged to the screen. "Please don't kill my granddaughter! There... there has to be another way you can get rid of your situation."

" _Sorry, doc._ " The prisoner shook her head and crossed her arms while glaring at the camera with bitterness. " _Look at it this way: if I don't kill her, my client will once he's done with her. And if some alien doesn't do it, it's going to be one of the bad guys standing in the same room as you. C'mon, do you honestly think that they'll give her a pass because she befriended them?_ "

Dr. Possible glanced at the villains in the room.

" _To them, she's just the kid of their enemy. If she lives, they'll hunt her down or you'll shut her in again. I'd be doing a favor for everyone and... HEY!_ "

The conversation got cut off when Jack Hench, who just came back from the bathroom, shut down the camera surveillance.

"What was that for?" Dr. Director demanded him.

"Making this soundproof so she doesn't hear us." Jack Hench waved a tablet in hand. "The answer is so obvious. I know how to find RJ."

"You do?" Martin said hopefully.

"Yes. While I was letting go in the bathroom..."

"TMI!" Gill warned.

"... it just hit me: I forgot to remove the HenchCo microchip from her arm once she became your apprentice," Jack Hench continued to tell Martin.

"Of course!" Secretary Magali snapped her fingers. "Maybe we can use the chip's frequency to detect her location."

"Already on it." Jack Hench typed onto his tablet. A few minutes later, a ding sound came out of it. "She's in Dubai... in the vacation palace of the Sheikh."

"I'll send in a carrier," Dr. Director said.

Edina stopped what she was doing, which was scratching the wall with her pocketknife. "Hang on. Does this room have Wifi?"

"Edina, you can check your monster truck blog later!" Shego told her niece.

"But Auntie Shego, I thought Secretary Magali said that the aliens could hack the Internet!" Edina pointed at the ceiling. "What if Mr. Hench's tablet's electronic pulses are intercepted by Metal Claws down there?"

Just then, a loud screaming came. Jack Hench turned the surveillance cameras back on, showing a rather gruesome sight. The prisoner, who was still in her cell, had managed to literally _phase_ her hand out of one of the glass walls and held it out. A GJ agent screamed as his body dragged himself towards her hand. It was like she was _summoning_ him to her by controlling his insides. She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled his arm into her cell while the rest of his body was trapped outside, terrified of what she could do to him. Even his colleagues pulling out their guns did not help him feel saved.

" _ **THANKS**_ ," the told the camera with a sadistic smile. " _ **I DO HOPE YOU MANAGE TO LIVE THROUGH THE APOCALYPSE**_ _._ "

Then, her eyes closed to reopen into glowing, violet ones, very similar to how Ronilda's turned blue whenever she was possessed. The main difference was that the host of the Violet Death opened her mouth and released a violet colored cloud into the open. She then used her spare hand to rip the glove off the agent's hand and the cloud immediately began to sink itself through his skin. The prisoner released the agent and he fell on the ground screaming while his veins glowed violet.

" **One...** " She began to count. " **Two... Three... Four... Five...** " The agent screamed as his veins kept glowing purple while making their way to his mouth. His fellow agents struggled to keep their weapons aimed at him.

" **Six... Seven...Eight...** " The screaming then changed to hissing. The noise sounded like the hybrid hissing of a cat and snake.

" **Nine... Ten...** " The prisoner smiled when the agent she infected hunched up and his eyes glowed violet. " **Train's in the station!"** Her eyes stopped glowing and she groaned at the sight. "And she did it again."

The infected agent dodged the bullets and started biting another agent... who began to transform like his unfortunate colleague in the span of ten seconds.

"Evacuate the base!" Dr. Director ordered to her communicator.

"Yeah, before we become zombies!" Motor Ed kicked the door open.

Meanwhile, the prisoner phased herself through her cell's walls. She casually walked through the mayhem she had caused and made a call through her PDA. "Flora, Diamona, I know where the girl is. Start making your way to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Distract the girl as long as you can, but don't forget. Only I am allowed to deliver her to the client and finish the job."

" _Got it_ ," they said. The bionic girl passed one of the zombies jumping onto a scientist and biting him. " _Hey, what was that?_ " One of the accomplices asked through the PDA.

"Nothing. The locals are just having a fight over the menu." She kicked the door open into a hallway. More agents pointed their guns at her. She merely turned and whistled to the zombies to get their attention.

"Go make more friends," she pointed at the enemy.

While she made her way through the zombies stampeding at the enemy as if she were Moses crossing the Red Sea made of flesh and blood, the others raced to get everyone else out.

As she ran, Edina pulled out her phone and immediately connected with an application to put in the coordinates.

 _ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE SET ON AUTOMOBILE. PROCEED TO MEET RJ IN DUBAI._

 _Nighttime, in Dubai_

RJ was in her guest chamber, preparing for the gala. She put on the blue sari dress the servants had given her to wear, but just in case she had to face danger, she put the dress over her martial arts uniform and her hidden Lily Staff.

She didn't know what to think. If it wasn't tomorrow, it would be tonight that she finds out whether or not she and Pablo Preston are related. What could happen next scared her? After all, what if the man she hoped to approach wasn't her father? What if...

A knock came on the door. RJ stopped brushing her hair. "Come in," she said.

The door opened and the small Prince Dev came in. So far, he hadn't spoken at all to the American guests. The image that his family had managed to pull out of him was that he was 'shy, sweet, an obedient. A perfect little prince.' So far, the most he ever did was draw a perfect illustration of RJ as a superhero beating his captors as a way to thank her.

"Did you need something, Prince Dev?" RJ asked sweetly. After all, she thought he was a rather harmless little boy.

"Yes, we need to talk about the equipment you'll need just in case an assault occurs at the gala." For the first time during her trip, RJ heard the kid speak. And for a foreign royal member, he didn't have a single accent when he spoke English. He locked the door behind him, closed the windows, and pulled in the curtains to make sure no one would listen to them. He then took RJ's hairbrush and split it in half, revealing a hidden button inside. He clicked it and the bed flipped over, revealing the other side to be a small makeshift lab with a three-screened computer, radars, a table complete with a science set, and a fridge.

RJ was stunned for a moment before then scowling and said sarcastically: "I'm guessing your mom lied when she said she didn't know why you were kidnapped."

"She wasn't." Prince Dev shook his head. He pulled a nearby chair to his computer. "Helga Ottoski had me stage the incident so that you'd be welcomed in my grandpa's palace."

RJ's eyes widened. The crone had purposely ensured that RJ would save Dev? Did she know that RJ was looking for Pablo Preston, thinking he was her father?

"As for this," Dev held his arms out at his lab. "I have 36 others hiding all over my grandpa's vacation palace. Same number for each house my family owns. I like to be prepared."

"But... why are you hiding this stuff if you're a gadgeteer genius? Why do you appear as shy in public?"

"You think international diplomats and foreign governments would approve that an Arabic country's royal family and the Indian prime minister's had a member who was a technology prodigy? A kid that could make others think the U.A.E are hiding a new form of weapon?" He shook his head. "My parents thought it would be best that I keep my 'talent' as a hidden hobby. I don't mind inventing stuff from my home, but I really don't approve seeing them unused." He smiled dreamily. "All I ever wanted was to be like my idol, Wade Load."

"Who?"

"How can you not know who Wade Load is?" Dev showed her a picture he had taped on the wooden side of the bed. It was picture of some African-American boy of his age in a blue T-Shirt facing a computer that existed back in the 2000s. "He used to fill Team Possible on their missions and gadgets. He was only my age when he started handling their site, but then he stopped. I've watched all of the articles and documentaries of his work. He's my idol."

"I hate to burst your bubble, your Highness, but I'm not a Kim Possible." RJ shook her head. "I got nothing of a hero."

"Antiheroes work for me." Dev shrugged and walked up to his fridge. Opening it caused cold clouds to trail out of it. RJ looked in confusion when she noticed that instead of frozen foods and ice, objects as mundane as makeup, jewelry, and toiletry were stashed in the fridge. Than she remembered this cartoon show she used to watch as a kid where teenage spy girls were given gadgets that looked like regular things kids their age would use.

"Ottoski warned me that people were coming after you and that if you were going to be in Dubai, you had to use my stuff," Dev said as his small hand trailed on the shelves.

"Do you know who that crone is?" RJ asked. "I can't even tell if she's human. She said that she shows up only to counsel people, so I'm guessing she counsels you."

"Yeah, don't tell my parents. They'll think I got hit by Iblis." Dev smiled and pulled out just the items he was looking for. He placed on the table a black nail-polish bottle, a pair of dangling Ganesh earrings, a red rajana scarf, high heels that have been removed from their shoes, and lastly, a hairbrush.

"Acidic nail polish projectiles." Dev uncorked the nail polish bottle and held up the cap. He aimed it at the curtain and squeezed the cap: the brush, which was actually some kind of mini squirt gun, spit the nail polish onto the curtain. RJ backed away a bit when she saw that the nail polish burned off the cloth it hit into a hole big enough to reach RJ's height. "You can use it for quick escapes or to trap your enemies in a pit."

He took the earrings and clasped their hooks together. He proceeded to pull the earrings away from one another, prolonging the length of their chain. "Retractable Ganesh bolas earrings. Handy for pining your enemies to the ground, is bulletproof, and fashions as a boomerang when done."

"I'm impressed." RJ took the earrings and began to clasp them onto her ears. "What's next?"

"Adhesive wall heels." Dev helped RJ stick the heels onto her flat shoes. "They make you feel like you're walking on heels, but once you start running, it changes its molecular stability to the one of a sneaker. Its adhesive tips can help you walk on flat surfaces that aren't floors."

"How long does it work?"

"Depends. So far I only managed to test it on my family houses. I don't know yet if they can withstand the obstacles that a skyscraper can offer." He then grabbed the scarf and spun it above. The scarf automatically moved to knot itself into a lasso. "The Rajah Lasso 200. Once off your neck..."

"Perfect for tying my foes on deck?" RJ raised a smirking eyebrow.

"You got it." He then showed her the hairbrush. "This one is totally brand new, I haven't figured out what to call it."

"Don't tell me. You yank it and the teeth shoot out to puncture car wheels?"

"No, that would be ridiculous. Honestly, any one can make old school gadgets like that or laser lipsticks. I prefer going new. This brush _does_ have projectable teeth, but they have tiny compartments filled with tranquilizing chemicals." He twisted the handle and a bull's-eye mechanism popped out. "The beauty of it is that after aiming at a specific target, the brush gets a scan of the target's DNA and the projectiles will follow it until it hits the skin."

"For a seemingly harmless ten-year-old prince, you should be starting a university." RJ took the brush and the rest of the gadgets while Dev clicked the makeshift lab back into hiding. "But are you sure you want to do this?"

"Helga Ottoski said I had to help you save the day, so I'm helping you." Dev helped her wrap the Rajah Lasso Scarf 200 and hide the brush and acidic nail polish projectiles in her dress while she clipped the Retractable Ganesh bolas earrings onto her ears. Dev paused and took a step back, briefly looking at RJ to make sure she looked all right until he decided it was missing something. Without asking for permission (then again, he was royalty), he opened the drawers and looked through RJ's stuff until he pulled out RJ's nautilus clip. He grabbed her three bangs and clipped them behind her ear.

"Perfect! Have fun at the party!" Dev headed to the door.

"You're not going?" RJ asked.

"I'm ten. It's my bedtime." He shrugged as if it was so obvious and made his way out. RJ blinked and looked at the mirror, rather startled to see that with her bangs clipped back and slightly leaning over her forehead, she almost looked how she was back in her grandmother's penthouse.

Except she now had so many pains.

 _Later_

The palace was live with music, food, and festivities. Guests ranging from the wealthy to the VIP amused themselves through discussions, delicacies, or getting graces from the Sheikh, who went on about how RJ saved his grandson. As for RJ, she ate and drank little from the buffet, remembering what happened back at the Seniors, and politely declined the advances of some young male guests who tried complimenting her 'for her unique beauty' or asking her to dance.

Her mind was too focused looking for a man who could be Pablo Preston. But how on earth could she find him? The man veiled himself, for crying out loud!

Luckily, she didn't have to look long. Parvati Patel tapped her on the shoulder and got her attention. She used her hand holding a champagne glass to point at the far end of the room, just by the indoor golden fountain. Her aim was at a Caucasian man in a blue uniform, a perfect hair-concealing black turban, and black shades. He didn't have anything covering his mouth, probably because of the refreshments, but RJ managed to recognize his chin structure.

"Pablo Preston," she said quietly.

"Here's your chance," Parvati said. "Go talk to him."

"But what if what I find is bad?"

"Better than not knowing." The woman shrugged.

While RJ took a deep breath and decided to make her move, Gilliard and Alva were by the window, savoring their curry bowls.

"Gold. So great for monetary reasons, but bad for mundane utility." Alva put down his bowl and spoon onto a nearby table, looked cautiously so that no one would notice him, and pulled out a paper straw to sip his curry.

"Get rubber gloves," Gilliard sighed. He looked around for his own amusement, until he heard a thud.

RJ was just three feet away from Pablo Preston. She could hear him talk about the inauguration of his park.

Gilliard looked and frowned. One by one, door guards were slipping and not moving, yet still breathing.

"Excuse me? Mr. Preston?" RJ tapped Mr. Preston's shoulders as politely as she could.

Gilliard went to the nearest guard and checked his pulse. Alva caught up to him while wiping the curry off his mouth. "What's wrong?" He then saw the unconscious guards. "Oh."

"Something's wrong." Gilliard turned the guard over and saw something prickling the guard's wrist and leaving a trail of blood. He pulled it off and looked at it closer. It was a thorn.

Pablo Preston was drinking some kind of red liquid as he turned to face the guest who had spoken to him. The moment he saw RJ, he held his mouth to prevent himself from spitting until he could aim it at the fountain.

"Sorry!" RJ said worriedly.

"Can't be..." Preston removed his shades. The identical hazel eyes met one another. "Kim?"

"What?" RJ was confused.

"IT'S A SET UP!" Gilliard shouted over the crowd.

The doors suddenly exploded. Guests screamed as giant vines thicker than a tank grew from the doors and circled the room, blocking the windows and any other possible exits. Gilliard and Alva rushed to join RJ, who went on to pull out her Lily Staff and make it grow to a decent fighting size.

"Gill and Electronique? Here?" Preston choked. "With..."

A large vine grew until it rose at the high center of the room. One of its giant thorns held up two full-body figures in metal protections and helmets. They stood up and removed their helmets, revealing the heads of two girls, maybe eighteen or nineteen. They looked _humanoid_ , but one of them had red-and-white shoulder length dreadlock hair, icy blue eyes, and peach skin while the other had waist-long hot pink hair with green skin and eyes.

"Either the party's over or we just brought it," the girl in dreadlocks snickered. "What do you think, Flora?"

"I'll take the second, the guards were too easy to sedate." Flora snickered.

"Let me guess." RJ held her Lily Staff up. "You're Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy trying to destroy humanity."

"No, no, and maybe." Flora held her hand up. It glowed green, making the thorn move down the vine like an elevator. "Diamona here is from Batrishania and I'm from Coraplastia. Well, technically. We're currently from a Felindrax base."

"Aka, we're deadly hired mercenaries and assassins... from outer space." Diamona said as she and her colleague jumped on the main floor. Diamona whistled at the palace. "Fancy place. I can see why you ran off here instead of Nottingham."

"I knew it!" Gilliard raised his finger at them. "You hacked the Internet!"

" _You_ 're the ones who brainwashed me?" RJ pointed at them as well.

"They brainwashed you?" Preston exclaimed.

"Well, not actually. See, what happened was this guy who hired us as big plans and he did this whole plan of brainwashing you as a test," Flora explained smugly. "He just dealt with extinguishing Earth's villains by having his pods bury the Minalshari..."

RJ, Gilliard, and Alva gasped in horror.

"...but they managed to survive."

RJ, Gilliard, and Alva sighed in relief.

"But our friend, our squad's leader if you want, managed to pose as a prisoner and find out where you were, so she kind of left after turning some Global Justice agents into zombies to attack your friends," Diamona added.

This got RJ angry.

"Oh, don't worry." Flora waved her hands. "We're just here to wear you out. Our leader is just _desperate_ to crush you and do the delivery in person."

"Sorry, not for sale." RJ got in a battle pose. "Luckily, you two are expendable."

Alva tightened his fists and small electricity bolts came out. Gilliard wad already prepared to attack in his fish-mutant form.

"And we just _love_ to take on unlikely odds," Diamona smiled sadistically. Out of nowhere, she pulled out two axes with blades made out of actual lasers and Flora held her glowing hands up so that all the vines could grow a diversity of sharp thorn spears, ready to attack.

At least, they answered before anyone could ask 'You and what army?'


	31. Ronilda's First Nemesis

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 31: Ronilda's First Nemesis

This was one question RJ was quite certain regular teenagers, even the bad ones, never asked themselves in life-endangering situations.

 _How on earth do I fight two aliens who are purposely fighting to weaken me, and how do I avoid harming the others?_

The thorn spears shot like cannons, but Alva intervened first by creating an electric force field to grill the thorn spears before they could hit them. RJ gasped and pulled out the acidic nail polish projectiles bottle Dev had given her. Once Alva removed the force field, RJ held up the cap and squirted the projectiles onto all the doors. The plants hissed as holes grew through them, making exits available for the guests to run away screaming.

Diamona ran at the group, her laser axes ready to smash. The group split to avoid getting hit. Flora summoned more vines in an attempt to impale Gilliard, but he was slippery enough to avoid them. He paused when he noticed Flora was nowhere to be seen until he got kicked on the back, destabilizing him and getting chained by vines just in time to see that Flora was literally coming out of the vines. It was like she just transferred from plant to flesh. She was about to coil him to death when RJ trapped her in the Rajah Lasso 200. One of Diamona's axes spun its way to cut the lasso, surprising RJ long enough to be distracted and not realizing until the last minute that Flora punched the ground and the tiles below RJ got lifted up by plants growing from the ground. Without hesitating, RJ used her Lily Staff to pole jump off the tiles, swing with the chandelier, and land on a table. Diamona threw her spare axe at the table's legs and RJ fell on the ground.

"You are so annoying," RJ grumbled.

"Thanks," Flora leaned casually on a golden pillar. "We try our hard... AAAAH!" The pillar she was leaning on lit up like a blazing Christmas tree that sucked up too much juice.

"Flora!" Diamona gasped when her colleague fell on the ground. Alva stepped from behind the pillar, his hand still in sparks while it tapped on the pillar.

"Take notes, aliens," Alva said smugly. "Gold conducts electricity." His smug disappeared when Flora just laughed despite the recent grill she just got.

"Take note, pal." She imitated his tone. "We aren't just trained mercenaries and assassins. We are trained _bionic_ mercenaries and assassins! And thanks for the lesson!" Flora sank her fingers into the gold pillar. They glowed green and soon, the golden pillars in the room were charging in green bolt-coiling vines, trapping them in like dogs in an electric fence. Flora snapped her fingers and bolts spontaneous hit Alva, leaving him screaming and falling unconscious. Gilliard ran to help him, but Diamona threw her axes at him and managed to get him pinned to the wall. Since he was being pinned by laser axes, Gilliard screamed as the blades threatened to burn his scales.

This got RJ angry. She extended her Lily Staff to whack Diamona and Flora, but they managed to jump in the air. Flora had one of her vines kick the staff off her hands and Diamona jumped down to pin RJ viciously on the ground. The latter groaned in pain as Diamona pushed down enough to make RJ feel like her bones were about to crack.

"Aw, poor Ronilda can't do anything," Diamona taunted. "Where's Mommy and Daddy to protect her?"

RJ could still feel the cracking inside her. Then, she could feel it less, but she heard another cracking noise. She looked up.

Pablo Preston was standing between her and Diamona. His turban was gone, revealing his platinum hair flowing despite the lack of indoor wind. His teeth were clenched, his frown was enraged, and an aura of blue covered all of him while his eyes glowed blue. His hands were grasped around the neck of Diamona, and judging by how it almost sounded like he was strangling metal pipes, RJ didn't have to guess that Diamona was in pain far more severe than her.

Flora tried to hold her hands to aim at him, but then he moved Diamona between him and Flora. "Try anything on my daughter and your little friend will deal with me!" He warned.

Flora seemed to hesitate. Gilliard pulled himself as hard as he could until he managed to rip himself free. His clothes were now ragged since some fabric was still stuck from the laser axes. He ran to check on Alva. Flora then spotted them, and RJ spotted what Flora had noticed.

"No! Don't kill her!" RJ grabbed Preston's ankle, getting his attention. "If you kill her, my friends will get hurt!"

He looked at her. His expression was hard to decipher.

"Please don't do this!" RJ begged. "Killing's not the answer! If you do this, you're no better than them! If you're really my father... don't do this."

His expression softened. He loosened his grip on Diamona, but he still threw her into the 'green electric fence', electrocuting her and making her fall unconscious on the ground. Flora ran after her, shutting off her power on the barrier. RJ struggled to get up with her injured areas until her father lost his blue glow and carried her in his arms. Gilliard did the same with Alva and they ran out the nearest exit as fast as they could. The teenagers instinctively followed Pablo Preston outside onto the street, where a silver colored limousine was already waiting for them.

Preston opened up the passenger door. "Get in. All of you," he said.

They obviously did not object and got in, with Gilliard placing Alva gently on the soft-cushioned chair. RJ groaned as she sat down. Preston slammed the door shut. "Joss, the private jet. _Now_!" He told the chauffeur.

"On it!" The chauffeur said in her countryside accent and hit the brake, driving off away from the Sheikh's palace.

"How's Alva?" RJ asked Gilliard.

"Short-circuited, and unconscious. I'd say give him hours to recover and he should be fine!" Gilliard checked outside the nearest car window to see if the alien mercenaries had caught up to them. "Extremely bad news is that it's actually an alien who's interested in your MMP!"

"Any good news, she said worriedly?" RJ asked drily.

"You... finally found your dad?" Gilliard said sheepishly.

RJ turned to look at Pablo Preston. He still looked beyond angry and was pinching his nose multiple times, hoping in vain to remain calm. "I am going to _literally_ or _figuratively_ murder your grandmother or your mother... I TOLD THEM THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!"

"Ya _think_?" RJ scowled. "I happen to be the hidden the hidden kid of some billionaire and now aliens are after me because I have Mystical Monkey Power! Your wife sure has a funny way of protecting me!"

"I agree, but she and I never knew you had the power! Well, actually we hoped you didn't have it!" He waved his hands at Gilliard and Alva. "And what on Earth are you doing with... teenager versions of Gil Moss and Electronique?" He frowned in confusion at them.

"You know our par... _Wait a minute!_ " Gilliard looked around and found a notepad and pen resting near his seat. He grabbed them and started scribbling some stuff on the first sheet. Gilliard gasped and revealed to the two the notes he made.

 **PABLO PRESTON**

 **RON STOPPABLE**

"No..." RJ choked.

"Pablo Preston never existed!" Gilliard glared at the businessman. "It's just an anagram for 'Ron Stoppable'! You never really quit, you just came back as another person!"

"Please, no!" RJ begged to the man. "I... I can't be... _Ronilda Stoppable_?"

Pablo Preston sighed, finally turning back into his real self: Ron Stoppable. "I'm sorry. You are Ronilda Anastasia Stoppable. I am Ron Stoppable, your father. And your mother's Kim Possible."

"So that's why Team Possible disappeared," Gilliard said. "RJ..." He shook his head. "Ronilda, they stopped their crime-fighting because of you."

"We did," Ron Stoppable said. "Kim wanted Ronilda to have a normal life." He faced his daughter in guilt. "We didn't want anything to happen to you, but then when we were told that Martin Fiske killed my mentor Sensei to revive his parents from the Yono curse... Kim and I feared of what would happen if my arch-nemesis Monkey Fist and his family found out I had a daughter. It could have been far worse, since we didn't know you had Mystical Monkey Power. I hated the plan, but Kim insisted that we faked your death and went our separate ways while you were secretly raised by Kim's mother. I switched identities to remain at the Bueno Nacho HQ in Middleton to keep an eye on your grandmother, to make sure that she was taking care of you."

The chauffeur Joss glared at her rear view mirror. "Looks like we have company, y'all!"

"The crazy aliens?" RJ asked. She opened the window and nearly choked after she stuck her head out to see the mayhem racing after the limousine, only it looked more like zombies with glowing purple eyes that stampeded through the traffic. Despite taking breaks to recruit more screaming bystanders through bites, the herd was evidently running after the limousine. Joss hit the speed pedal harder, this time by zigzagging through the cars ahead.

A telephone rang in the limousine. Ron Stoppable answered it. "Yes? Your Highness? Alright." He put it on speaker.

" _RJ, are you there?_ "

"Prince Dev?" RJ stuck her head back in to look at the phone. "Did you and your family make it out safely?"

" _Yes, but my computers are picking up a strange foreign contamination that just came into Dubai a second after the attack started at my grandfather's party,_ " the prince said through the line.

"Man, these aliens must be well-paid!" Gilliard snapped. "Going as far as to zombifying a city just to catch you!"

" _Oh, and there's some kind of vehicle heading your way_."

RJ expected the worst when she heard cars crashing, but she ended up smiling when she saw a familiar vehicle driving automatically on the side of the limousine.

"My all-terrain vehicle!" RJ gasped. "Thank you, Edina!" She began to open the car door until Ron Stoppable grabbed her by the arm.

"No, Ronilda! It's too dangerous!" He begged.

"I'm putting all of you in danger. Those aliens and their zombies are after me. I'll lure them away to the Bueno Nacho theme park while you guys head to your jet and get Alva some medical attention," she told him.

"But..." He nearly fell on his seat when Joss drove through a red light and the zombies managed to run over a passing truck. He sighed. "You're as stubborn as your mother."

"Don't remind me," she shrugged and jumped off the limousine. Once she landed on her all-terrain vehicle and got her control over the steering, the automatic system went off and she took a bold right turn into an alley. The ones back at the limousine looked in dread as the zombies piled up just to squeeze into the alley and catch up to RJ.

She drove through the small alleys and yelled at people to get out of the way. She only needed to hear the increasing screams and sound volumes to know if whether or not the zombies were fast.

The screen on her vehicle turned on and the face of Dev appeared. "Thank God," RJ told the screen. "You have any escape clauses?"

" _The theme park is on an artificial island on the Persian Gulf._ " Dev said. " _I can see a possible exit for you, but there are three bad outcomes. One, your going to lose your vehicle. Permanently._ "

"Dang it! Edina updated it for my birthday!" RJ groaned. "What are second and third?"

" _You use your brush to tranquilize the drivers of two upcoming oil trucks five streets ahead of you, and you jump out of your vehicle and land in the water while the flames burn off the zombies._ "

"YOU WANT ME TO START A FIRE IN DUBAI?" The screaming behind her got louder than the screaming of the Jurassic Park T-Rex. She looked at her vehicle's mirrors. The zombies had decided to gather up into a ten-foot-tall ball that rolled down the street at better speed, crushing anything on the way like mere pancakes.

"I hate my life," RJ grumbled and hit the speed petal. She pulled out the brush and aimed at the upcoming trucks' drivers that Dev had foretold. She hit the trigger and two projectiles darted to their target. RJ put the vehicle on auto and struggled to stand up on her seat. The people she passed thought she was some kind of stuntwoman who was trying to surf down the road while avoiding a boulder of flesh à la Indiana Jones style.

"Oh boy." RJ gulped as the trucks got closer to her vehicle. She jumped off the seat. Flames exploded on the oil. Some of them hit her on the left thigh leg, adding in pain before she hit the water.

 _Minutes later_

The Dubai fire department had come on the scene to extinguish the fire on the road. Police officers and ambulances had come to deal with the zombies, who had inexplicably turned back into confused, yet traumatized humans. More than half of them were either injured or dead from the fire.

The Persian Gulf looked peaceful despite the tragedy on land. Then, a large gust of water erupted and RJ found herself flying and landing on solid land. She had just landed on the main grounds of the Bueno Nacho theme park, still empty before its first day and void of guards.

RJ was still in pain from her burn and the saltwater from the gulf didn't help. She ripped off her dress and threw it aside to have a better look at the red, burning skin that was visible through the small damage of her soaked martial arts uniform.

"It's just a burn," she told herself out loud. She pulled out her Lily Staff and ended up using it as a walking stick to help her stand up. Add in to the fact that the burn on her thigh did not help with her still hurting sides and the fact that she just found out who she actually was.

What was wrong with nature? Why did she have to be the child of the people her closest ones despised? Why did she have to have the horrible position of being hunted? _What did those aliens want with her?_

She perked her head up and looked around. Someone was in the park. She could sense it.

Then again...

"You knew your zombies would lure me away from my father and my friends, didn't you?" She called out. At first, she only got the echo of the wind blowing through the roller coaster metal rails. The silence ended when clapping came out. It was the clapping sound that mixed imitating a clock's tick _and_ scratching metal. RJ turned her head and located the clapping to a silhouette leaning on a table at a nearby Naco Bar. The silhouette ended her clapping with a normal one, causing the Naco Bar to lit up and reveal to RJ the person she was dealing with. She didn't have to guess, regardless of how human the foe looked, that the latter was with the alien mercenaries tasked to collect her. But what unnerved her was that, for some internal reason, RJ felt like she was looking at herself. But why?

"You're fifteen minutes early," the foe said. "Clearly every single alien I work with forgets the essential: underestimating humans is a _bad_ idea."

"Your associates didn't underestimate Alva and Gilliard or me, but my dad," RJ said. She bit her lip at saying the last two words.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" The foe tapped her metal nails on the wooden table. "Being who you are is just about enough to turn a dozen enemies against you and associating with an opposing can just about get you into serious trouble. Whatever you end up with... lashed on by villains, double-sheltered by your goodie-two-shoes of a family, or exploited by aliens... your life ain't pretty. Welcome to the real world, Ronilda Stoppable."

"Thanks," Ronilda said drily. "And who the Hell are you? Pardon my language."

"Language pardoned." The foe got off her seat, dusted herself off, and began to walk to Ronilda. "I am your actual first nemesis, your evil counterpart of everything, the dark reflection you never knew existed behind your looking glass! I am to you what Shego was to your mother and Monkey Fist to your father! I was once from New York City, but I then went into the tutelage of the Felindrax, they who kidnap girls from other planets and train and experiment them to become bionic alien mercenaries and assassins! I have been forced to be the host of the Violet Death, your host Royal's arch-nemesis! I am Ruba Kala!"

Ronilda blinked at first, confused about a certain detail until she remembered what Kronos had told her about the origins of her power. No wonder she felt like she had looked in a mirror on the inside! Or that she sensed some kind of presence!

"So... I must have sensed your presence since we technically have the same powers," Ronilda said.

"Gee, the Felindrax could have mentioned that!" Ruba Kala pulled out her PDA and crushed in into pieces. "Now, you tell me! I spent hours relying on my PDA or listening through electronic systems just to find out you were in Dubai, and you're telling me that you just _sensed_ me?"

"Forgive me, I don't exactly meet people like you everyday!" Ronilda stood up straight, causing her to groan more as her sides hurt. "Wait, if you're the evil space goddess' host... You're going to try to kill me. But how's that going to work with you and your colleagues trying to deliver me like a living package?"

"Excellent question!" Ruba Kala cracked her knuckles. "But right now, I need to take you out before I deliver you _alive and bleeding_ to the madman!" She charged at Ronilda, prepared to slice her. Ronilda held out her Lily Staff and spun it in a trading system of clockwise and counterclockwise directions, blocking the attacks of Ruba Kala. The metal nails hitting the Lily Staff caused blue and purple sparks to fly.

Ronilda pushed in her defense, forcing Ruba Kala to backup until she went with kicking the Lily Staff off Ronilda's hand before than doing the same process to Ronilda's stomach, sending her to crash on the floor at a five foot distance. Her kick added more pain to Ronilda's sides.

"Ooh, I forgot! Diamona really loves giving bad gut feelings!" Thinking that Ronilda was briefly unable to function, Ruba Kala charge again, but little did she expect that Ronilda waited for the right time to block Ruba Kala's right ankle with her two feet and spin her at a similar distance away from her, only this time she made her crash and destroy the Naco Bar.

"Ooh, I forgot!" Ronilda used the same tone as Ruba Kala as she went to pick up her Lily Staff. "I trained with a guy with monkey feet!"

"You mean the guy that I left to die in my zombie masse?" Ruba Kala destroyed the debris to get out like a human bulldozer. Her comment made Ronilda angry. She retracted the Lily Staff and hung it to her belt. She got in a fighting pose and gave Ruba Kala the hand gesture for 'bring it on'.

 _Ten minutes later_

It felt like forever. Ronilda didn't know how long she could last against Ruba Kala. The two girls were evenly matched. If one punched or kicked the other to crash into something hard, the other returned the favor. Some defenses blocked the attacks well. They did their fighting in hand-to-hand combat, without even using their weapons.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" Ruba Kala very much screamed when she couldn't find Ronilda after the latter nearly made her drown in the Salsa y Guacamole Bumper Boats ride, ripping apart the walls to get out and letting the water soak the park grounds.

Little did she realize, Ronilda had used her adhesive wall heels to walk her way up the Naco Tower. The moment she managed to reach the top floor, her heels lost its adhesiveness. _Note to myself_ , she thought, _tell Prince Dev that his shoes can only reach their maximum by climbing a 200 foot-tall drop tower_.

She dropped her butt onto the platform and took so many deep breaths as she removed the now useless heels.

She was tired. Her skin was overly sweating, her sides and stomach hurt, her thigh was still barely recovering from its burn, her hair was messy, and her uniform was torn in a few areas where one could see the bleeding scratches Ruba Kala had succeeded in giving her. This was beginning to get hopeless.

"You have to jump off the tower."

Ronilda looked on her right and groaned when she saw Helga Ottoski sitting next to her as if they were having a picnic on high winds. "Get lost!" Ronilda hissed.

"You'd want an old crone like me to get lost while you should be the one to jump?" Helga Ottoski used her stick to point down at the emptiness full of winds that separated where they were from the ground.

"Why the Hell would I want to jump off a drop tower?"

As if to answer her question, Helga Ottoski raised her stick and began to hit on the platform. The banging sounds it made alerted Ruba Kala on the main ground. The bionic girl began to run her way up the Naco Tower at full speed.

Ronilda had barely any time for a proper reaction after she just noticed Helga Ottoski disappeared yet again. Ruba Kala jumped in the air and landed on top of Ronilda, pinning her to the platform while her hands squeezed Ronilda's neck. The latter choked for breath.

"C'mon. Go unconscious for me..." Ruba Kala taunted in a rather tempting manner. "C'mon. Let darkness cradle you..."

"SHUT UP!" Ronilda punched her on the face and pushed her off her. She didn't realize her foot was too close to the edge, and as Ottoski had coldly suggested, she startled Ruba Kala by letting herself fall off the Naco Tower. Only the wind's whistles and distance vehicle engines could be heard to her ears until Ronilda felt a thousand injuries on impact. Her mouth choked blood.

Ruba Kala ran down the tower and to Ronilda. The bionic mercenary actually covered her mouth in horror when she saw the damage Ronilda had brought on herself.

"Are you _mad_?" Ruba Kala exclaimed. "My client wanted you alive! Not as some kind of skin bag with damaged bones!"

"Too bad..." Ronilda spit blood. "I already jumped off a seventy-foot-tall building to start my life... I'm not afraid to end it by jumping off a deadly Naco Tower..."

Sirens and turbine sounds were increasing. Ruba Kala took this as a sign that she had to cue out. Ronilda kept spitting blood.

The blurred faces of Gilliard and her father were the last thing she saw before she passed out.


	32. Healing For Despair

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 32: Healing For Despair

The holding up of the zombies had tired out most of the people in the GJ refugee base.

Positively speaking, the Fiskes had managed to insulate the zombies in a barrier of MMP to keep them from harming anyone else. No Minalshari refugee was harmed.

On the weird note, the zombies reverted back to normal at one point and collapsed to unconsciousness on the floor. After some testing on the rescued victims, the GJ scientists concluded that either the infection the bionic girl had placed on the agents only lasted a total of two hours max unless it hit a higher number or she had ordered them to stop once she was out of the base's perimeters.

Negatively speaking, many zombies had been shot dead before their infection automatically turned off. Casualties were counted to about 50. And now that the bionic girl knew Ronilda was in Dubai, the worst could be imagined.

"Dr. Director, a Bueno Nacho jet has requested to land at our base," an agent told Dr. Director.

"Where are they from?"

"Dubai."

The name of the city sparked some hope into the others who heard it. Martin was the first to react by pushing the door open and running to the base's boarding gates. A Bueno Nacho jet could be seen on the other side of the glass walls, landing and parking in a rush. The villains, Dr. Possible, and the GJ crew gathered to the gate. Agents were already running in with their guns, but them some ran back out and came back with two gurneys.

"Oh, no..." Martin feared the worst. The first to come out were Pablo Preston helping Gilliard walk despite the ice packs the latter had on his shoulders.

"GILLIARD!" Secretary Magali ran to hug her son.

"OW! Mom, I got hit by laser axes!" Gilliard yelped.

"What happened, Pablo?" Señor Senior asked his card game buddy while Gil Moss went to reunite with his injured son.

"Alien mercenaries. They... I can't even describe it! These kids really need medical attention!" Pablo said, nearly begging. The first gurney came out, holding an unconscious Alva. He looked like he was getting his juice back, but he still needed electrical hydration.

The second gurney was sped out, and this one horrified everyone.

"RJ!" Melgo and Buffy exclaimed.

"RONILDA!" Dr. Possible and Martin shouted.

"Oh no..." Monkey Fist and the Simian Witch choked.

Ronilda was unconscious and struggling to breathe. Her limbs barely looked straight, her thigh had a dark burn, she had bleeding scratches everywhere, and her skin had dark finger traces. Some of her injured areas had been covered by what looked like green muck.

"What happened?" Martin barely looked at Gilliard while asking the question. He was too focused staring at his unconscious lover and placing his hand on her forehead.

"The alien mercenaries... they're bionic, they tried to weaken her and leave the finishing to their buddy, we tried to stop them, we sucked, this guy here intervened," Gilliard pointed at Pablo Preston. He then turned to Señor Senior. "FYI, your card game buddy is actually Ron Stoppable."

"Ron?" Dr. Possible looked startled at the businessman. He, on the other hand, looked _**beyond pissed.**_ He moved forward to his mother-in-law and raised his hand to hit her until Dr. Director held him back.

"I TRUSTED YOU! FOR WHAT?" Ron Stoppable yelled at his mother-in-law. "OH, I FORGOT! MATRIMONIAL TRUST BEFORE CHILD'S SAKE!" His skin began to glow blue, prompting Dr. Director to release her grasp on him, but Monkey Fist was actually the one keeping his own former arch-foe from hitting Dr. Possible.

"Easy there, Stoppable!" Monkey Fist warned.

" **BACK OFF!** " Ron pushed Monkey Fist off him. The Simian Witch grabbed her husband before he could fall.

"When you so-called professionals are done bickering like toddlers, let Gilliard finish!" Martin snapped impatiently. His frustration made Ron Stoppable shut down his anger volume.

"Right," Gilliard said. "So anyway, we're in the limo, I find out who he really is, and then we see that we're being chased by purple-eyed zombies..."

"The bionic one." Martin looked bitterly at the unconscious Ronilda. "I should have known. What happened then, Gilliard?"

"Well, RJ then jumped on this all-terrain vehicle that Edina sent to her, she then lured the zombies away from the limo, and well... We got worried when we saw an explosion coming from the area she drove off to... We took Stoppable's jet to the theme park and that's where we found RJ."

"What about the bionic one?" Martin asked.

"Who?"

"Ruba... Kala..." Ronilda spit blood out of her mouth. "She... evened me out..."

"Evened you out?" Melgo asked. "You mean she was able to stand a fight against you?"

"With... without even using any MMP... I... got her off guard... by jumping off... Naco Tower..." She went back to being unconscious.

Ron glared at Dr. Possible. "Hey, she already jumped off her bedroom window to escape my penthouse!" Dr. Possible raised her hands in defense.

"Maybe I should have _you_ jump off her window, _only without a rope!_ " Ron spat.

"Do you think you can heal her, Kronos?" Martin asked. The healer went to check on the injured areas of Ronilda.

"Many areas are badly damaged, but nothing permanent or lethal." Kronos removed some of the muck Ronilda had on her arms. "I see you used your anti-bacterial muck, Gilliard."

The fish-boy nodded in gratitude.

"I should be able to heal her, but it might take a long while and a great amount of patience."

"The base has as many medical rooms as you need," Dr. Director said.

"Good. Dr. Drakken, I'll need some of your plants. Dr. Possible, your previous medical experience might come in handy. Gilliard, I could use more of your anti-bacterial muck. Buffy and Melgo, you can help assist in collecting the supplies."

"And the rest of us?" Martin asked.

"Please make sure that nobody kills one another," Kronos said in exasperation while Buffy and Melgo pushed Ronilda's gurney to the medical room that the GJ agents lead them to.

 _Three hours later_

The medical team came into the conference room.

"Well?" Ron Stoppable asked worriedly.

"She should be fine," Kronos said. "Granted, she lost quite an amount of blood, but Dr. Possible and I were able to work on her bones and cuts. Let her sleep and not fight for the next couple days and she should be back on her feet. I had Bates and a Global Justice doctor keep an eye on her while agents guard the door."

"Yeah, but for how long?" Melgo questioned as she threw her dirty plastic gloves into a nearby garbage disposal and switched back to her preferred gloves.

"We don't exactly have an answer for that, sweetheart," Drakken told his daughter. "Most we can conclude is that these aliens are tougher than the first who tried invading Earth."

"How can you conclude that? Warmonga and Warhok were beef-cakes with massive egos that underestimated us," Ron Stoppable asked rather stubbornly.

"Correction." Shego raised a finger that she then pointed at him. "They underestimated _you_. My husband's vines were only capable of destroying the pods. _You_ , on the other hand, used your bare hands enhanced with monkey powers to throw those giant aliens into a plummeting spaceship."

"You barbecued the aliens?" Gilliard asked Stoppable. "So cool!"

"No! You think it was 'cool' for me to get enraged when Warhok suggested making a trophy out of Kim?"

"Oh." Gilliard grimaced. "Were they going to bring back her head or use her whole body like Jesus?"

Stoppable's body nearly glowed blue.

"Gilliard, please stop." Martin begged. Gilliard cringed and Stoppable calmed down. Drakken, in the meantime, pulled out a large black board full of chalk notes.

"What's this?" Dementor asked.

"Comparison notes," Drakken explained. "While RJ was being taken cared of, I took the liberty of starting to take notes on the attacks, both the recent ones and the ones from the past, to find out the main differences."

"Anything that stood out to you, Dad?" Melgo asked.

"Many, actually." He showed the notes. "Like Stoppable said, the aliens who first invaded Earth weren't very, how should I put it, 'bright in their tactic'. All they did was mark some land to blur the satellites, kidnap me and Kim Possible, and send a thousand pods all over the planet without even thinking that we stood a chance.

"These were the attacks of said 'strongest warriors in the galaxy', but I think there's a high-possibility that the main Lorwardian behind the recent attacks is an intellectual one. A scientist, perhaps, who took many levels of planning."

"Hm, not dumb," Melgo agreed with her father. "He used your old Bebe robots to steal the Hope Diamond from the Smithsonian and replace it with a fake one holding a microchip to brainwash RJ after she stole it."

"I could have sworn that my wife destroyed those robots two times," Stoppable said.

"Yeah, well, I think this time, it's official."

"There was also the tungsten and blueprints he had RJ steal," Monkey Fist remarked.

"Or when she fell into my trap where she thought it was the Lotus Blade," Martin said, "and when she attacked Father."

"The few restless nights," Kronos said.

Drakken wrote down the stuff they mentioned.

"The Internet hacking and the mercenaries," Gilliard said.

"I still can't believe that you noticed it," Secretary Magali told her son.

"The aliens probably found out through my past Internet usages that I originally hoped to go to Nottingham for the convention, so they probably thought they didn't need to lure me to the Minalshari to be buried alive with the other villains. But those mercenaries... they're just as deadly. They're not just bionic-enhanced in physical combat and powers, but they got massive intellect."

"We already met Ruba Kala," Martin said her name rather sourly. "Who were the other two?"

"Diamona and Flora. Diamona has those laser axes that injured me," Gilliard pointed at his bandaged shoulders, "and Flora has those plant powers that grilled Alva."

"You do realize that 'plant' and 'grill' don't really combine?" Drakken said skeptically.

"It was her bionics, most likely. Alva tried to electrocute her when she was leaning on a gold pillar... but since she's half bionic, it didn't hurt her as much, but she managed to pick up Alva's attack and mix it with her powers."

"You mean when she had her vines jolt up and trap us in that electric fence that over-shocked your friend?" Stoppable grimaced. "Not one of the best sights."

"And Ruba is the host of the Violet Death..." Martin said. "I can't believe Ronilda wasn't able to beat her, and the other way around."

"Me, not really." Stoppable said.

"Funny, since I'm still amazed that none of us connected the dots," Monkey Fist told his old nemesis. "Then again, based on what we just saw, your daughter is nothing like you."

"Good thing," Stoppable retorted to the villain. "If she was anything like me or Kim, you wouldn't have hesitated to shed her blood right here and now. None of you, well, except Drakken and Shego, would have batted an eye if you found out the moment you met her."

"That's rather pessimistic, coming from you of all people," the Simian Witch frowned. "What happened to the cowardly boy you once were?"

"How about 'growing a spine?'" Stoppable said coldly.

"Yeah, you used my old Attitudinator, didn't you?" Jack Hench realized and got off his seat.

"Your what?" Motor Ed frowned.

"The helmet thingy he made to switch attitudes," Edina whispered to her father.

"You used it somehow," Jack Hench said to Stoppable, "but how is it you aren't fully evil?"

"You'd be surprised, my chauffeur is one of my wife's scientist relatives. I had her adjust the device and use it on me so that I'd be half-and-half. To put it simply, I did not become fully evil or fully good. Rather, I became cynical."

"Ron, why would you do that?" Dr. Possible gasped.

"Gee, I don't know." He got off his chair. "The same way I don't know why I even listened to you and Kim, why I didn't just take Ronilda with me, why I had to miss fourteen years of her life, why I couldn't even send her cards or something for her birthdays, Christmas, or Hanukah, why I could never arrange her bat mitzvah, why I could never know what it's like for a parent to give advice for their kid on school and social issues or dating, or why I had to record all your take-out orders from Bueno Nacho just to find out the stuff you normally ordered for Ronilda! If you have a better reason for why I'd change my personality, I'd love to hear it!"

While the adults were arguing, Martin got off his chair and snuck his way out. He couldn't stand their immaturity: Stoppable and his mother-in-law arguing about Ronilda's life and some of the other villains judging him for his personality change.

He stopped by a vending machine in the hallway and got himself a soda, which he normally would avoid drinking unless he needed a distraction. After finishing his beverage and tossing the can in a nearby garbage disposal, he asked a nearby agent for the direction of Ronilda's medical room. The latter patiently guided him to the door of the medical room. There was a see-through glass on the wall for Martin to see the medical room. Bates was sitting on a chair, reading a book, the medic was checking the heart rate scans, and Ronilda was sleeping in her medical bed.

He opened the door and got inside the room, where he realized that somebody had the speakers play Marlo Ballata. "Young Master Fiske," Bates said and closed his book.

"I know I shouldn't be here, but... I really need to be near her. The others are being intolerable," Martin sighed.

"I could use for more coffee," the medic shrugged and took her mug. "Just make sure to remain calm. We had to turn on the music to soother her. She agitates when she sleeps."

Martin nodded. He could imagine that after what she endured, Ronilda must be having nightmares.

The medic went out. Martin silently pulled a chair and placed it right next to the bed. He sat down and watched silently as Ronilda slept, briefly tucking behind her ear a loose strand of hair. The strangle marks she had on her neck looked like they were healing, but they were now of a vicious black color.

"Why wasn't I there for you?" He asked in guilt.

"She's a strong one, she'll make it," Bates said in a reassuring tone.

"I don't know, Bates," Martin admitted. "Ruba Kala is on the same level as Ronilda when it comes to power. I was outsmarted too quickly by that bionic freak and Ronilda neither defeated nor lost to her. And Buffy says Ronilda is destined to die fighting the Violet Death."

"Destiny doesn't decide for us, we do," Bates said. "If you really believed in destiny, you'd think it was being eviler than you by having you fall in love with the offspring of the one your parents hate most."

"What am I going to do? I can't live a star-crossed life, mine is nothing like a Shakespearean tragedy. I was raised to hate Ron Stoppable, but... I don't know what to think of him, he's nothing like what we knew. And Ronilda's nothing like him! I failed to even see a resemblance! But I love her too much..." He slouched on his chair. "I don't know what to do."

 _You could fluff her pillow, for one_.

Martin and Bates got off their chairs, startled by the unknown voice they just heard. Suddenly, the hand-mirror lying on a table began to glow blue as it 'spoke'.

 _I apologize for the startling, but this is how I normally communicate with the physical... when it's desperate. Would you please fluff Ronilda's pillow?_

Still too startled to argue, Martin gently fluffed the pillow under Ronilda's head, making her do a pleasant sound in her sleeping state. _That will do._

"Who are you?" Bates asked as he took the mirror in his hand. He saw no reflection of himself or another's, just an empty glass that glowed blue at every sentence or word spoken.

 _I think you know._

"You're Royal, aren't you?" Martin guessed. _Ronilda's god is far more polite than the Violet Death_ , he thought.

 _Indeed_ , the mirror said.

"Why do you speak to us? I thought... based on what I saw... I mean..." Martin shook his head. "This is weird."

 _I can imagine_ , the mirror said in an understanding tone. _I normally only speak to Ronilda inside her mind when it's absolutely necessary, like when I guided her to cure Bates' pneumonia. I'm trying to soothe her down right now, but her mind is full of confusions. She doesn't fully understand why neither her nor Violet's host came out victorious, she doesn't know who her brainwasher tormenting her head is, and she doesn't know what to make of herself now that she knows who she is._

"Have you tried curing her injuries?" Martin asked.

 _I'd rather not_ , the mirror admitted. _Whenever a space god like myself have to occupy a mortal host, we must be cautious on how much self-healing we use, especially for curing nearly fatal injuries. There are three strikes that I must avoid, so I prefer that Ronilda be cured by you mortals than by me._

"Whatever would happen?" Bates asked.

 _If I had no choice but to save my host from near death, I'd get a strike. The third strike would lead to the fail-safe trigger of my essence, and the more Ronilda uses her powers, the more she will lose herself._

"Lo... Lose herself?" Martin choked. "You mean..."

 _My essence would fully take over. Ronilda's personality, mind, and soul would be gone forever, while her body would be mine and I fully reincarnate in the flesh. But I don't have the heart to have Ronilda vanish. Unlike Violet, I care deeply of my host._

"That is very selfless of you," Bates complimented to the mirror.

 _Well, when you grow dormant inside a growing child, you kind of get attached to it. It's almost as if I made her myself._

"If you feel like you made her yourself, why didn't you give her full control of her powers?" Martin questioned skeptically.

 _I can't just impose my host to accept the powers my essence gives her. She needed actual experience and natural confidence and acceptance so that she could come full circle with herself and her powers,_ the mirror said. _You can't give everyone everything on a silver platter._

Martin sighed in exasperation.

"Quite the contrast from the other space deity," Bates commented. "No wonder you two are opponents."

 _Aside from me banishing her to a black hole for the sake of all mortals? Yes, we are_ , the mirror agreed. _Our methods of raising our hosts are far different; I just had to see from Ronilda's eyes during the conflict against Ruba Kala._

"She said her becoming a host was tricked," Martin crossed his arms. "That her jailors slash trainers made her believe that becoming the Violet Death's host would set her free."

 _It would. By killing me, Violet would finally rest in peace and her host would be spared of the essence and her alien slavery. Still, even the least intellectual of all can tell Violet clearly abuses her host. While I was naturally reawakened in Ronilda since her birth and tried to guide her from within, Violet forced herself into Ruba. The poor thing clearly did not see it coming._

"You must be hopelessly benevolent to call the one who strangled Ronilda a 'poor thing.' Especially when the 'poor thing' believes killing you and making me lose Ronilda is the way to set her free."

 _Maybe_ , the mirror said in a shrugging tone. _I thought you were a poor thing. Ronilda may have been asleep at the time, but I was able to hear Sensei Yori tell Ronilda's parents that you killed her father-like mentor to save your parents._ The mirror stopped glowing. Bates tapped on it to see if it would respond, but nothing occurred.

Royal had hung up. Bates put the mirror back on the table.

 _ **WAY**_ _later_

Ronilda felt herself shuddering while she was in the dark. How could she shudder? They had succeeded in healing her.

She heard heartbeats. It wasn't just hers, but many others. Ronilda tried to open her eyes. Why was everything black and outlined in blue?

She saw something, like a blue fire sitting on a chair. She then saw another blue fire glowing as it walked two hallways away from here.

 _What's going on?_ She thought as she got out of her bed.

 _It's nothing to worry about, Ronilda_ , a voice said reassuringly. _You are just beginning to sense the presence of other people while you are unconscious. It will improve when you are awake._

The first impulse would have naturally been to question who had spoken to her, but then she felt something vibrating. Ronilda jumped off her bed and opened the door in her unconscious medical room. When she looked into the hallway, she saw violet colored-vibrations coming from the left side of the hallway.

 _Can't be_. She followed the direction that the vibrations came from. She walked further into the facility of darkness outlined in blue full of blue flamed beings and violet vibrations that increased. "What's all this?" She asked out loud.

 _It is nothing to worry about_ , the voice said. Since it came from her right, Ronilda turned her head. A blue flame was walking next to her, only... it was humanoid shaped. _The heavy impact of your chute from that drop tower must have caused your presence sensing to improve. I dread that without me even interfering, you accidentally got me a strike. You need to be more careful, Ronilda._ The figure said in a rather chiding voice. _I know you don't want to become me._

Ronilda stopped in her tracks. "You're Royal, aren't you?"

 _In the best form I can have at the moment._

"What did you mean by getting you a strike?"

 _Let's just say that the more you get lethally injured and I have to self-cure you as an emergency, the third time will lead to the fail-safe trigger and I fully reincarnate in you. I try to avoid curing you like that, but it seems like your body was in a desperate need to be fixed, your powers enhanced your senses and did the deed without me wanting to do so._

"Shit!" Ronilda hissed.

 _Language_ , Royal warned.

"Sorry," she apologized. She went back to walking. "So, this is what you live in?"

 _No. This is your nerval system. It has enhanced and now your senses are enhanced. Hopefully it will teach you to be more careful and not do daredevil stunts!_ Royal spoke yet again in another chiding tone.

"I had no other way! Besides, Helga Ottoski insisted..." Ronilda looked at a door from which the vibrations were coming through. "Who's Helga anyway? I can't tell if she wants to help me or get me hurt. Dev and I think she might not be human."

 _I wouldn't be surprised if she were a chaotic creature_ , Royal said. _Whether they help good or evil, they just love to spread chaos._

Ronilda pushed the door open, leading to the base's open space for jet landing. The vibrations got stronger as they came from behind a hill from the ones surrounding the base. Ronilda and Royal walked through the flames of the jet maintenance and out through the gates. "I'm starting to think that I'm sensing the presence of Ruba Kala again."

 _I wouldn't be surprised_ , Royal said. _Space gods and their essences give rather detectable presence waves that are stronger if the gods are in hosts. Your new sensory improvement helps you detect her._

"Why couldn't she sense me?" Ronilda asked.

 _My best guess? Violet also didn't want to use the three strikes to fail-safe trigger._

"This doesn't make sense," Ronilda shook her head as they walked up the hill's quarry. The winds in her nerval system just sent shivers in the air. "If Violet wants to kill you so badly, why doesn't she just provoke the rule so that Ruba gets fully transformed into Violet?"

 _You don't understand, Ronilda. You know how after my fight with Violet, me and the other gods shed crystals holding our essences and spread them all over the universe? And how the strongest crystal holds the main conscience of the god, helping him select the right host?_

"Yes?"

 _When I say that I could risk fully reincarnating in you, it means you disappear forever and your body becomes my final state. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't find another host. As for Violet, she wants to rest in peace after killing me, not be tethered to some human permanently._

"But... if you don't want to fully reincarnate in me, than why did you..."

 _Because your father was the Ultimate Monkey Master. Because of all the pure hearts in your family, you have the purest. And because I genuinely care about you since the day you were born as if you were my own and I am not some annoying parasite._

Ronilda smiled at his touching words. She was about to say something when Royal suddenly pushed her down to hide below some rocks. When they were out of sight, Ronilda saw why Royal had hidden her. Violet flames popped their heads from the other side of the hill and were spying on the base.

"We don't attack head front," one of the flames turned out to be Ruba Kala. "The client is getting impatient. Once Ronilda Stoppable recovers, we sneak into the base, Flora gives her a sedative, and we sneak out!"

"I don't know, Ruba," Flora said in hesitation. "They might have her under protection right now. And what of her father?"

"You avoid him."

"I still can't be believe he spared me because she begged him to," Diamona said rather confused. "We openly tried to harm her, but she asked for our lives to be spared. Why would she do that?"

"She's a Stoppable and a Possible," Ruba shrugged. "She wouldn't actually kill anyone. That is, unless the client brainwashes her."

"I also can't believe that even without your powers, none of you won!" Flora added.

"Yeah, I still can't believe she'd jump to nearly kill herself," Ruba said in a rather grimacing tone that then changed into a smile. "I guess I would have done a similar thing."

Ronilda and Royal waited until the violet flames were out of sight to walk back to the base.

"Well, now I know what I must do," Ronilda sighed.

 _Please don't tell me you're actually going to kill her,_ Royal said.

"Nope," Ronilda raised her fist in the air. "I'M GOING TO TURN MYSELF OVER!"

 _WAIT, WHAT?_


	33. Ronilda 20

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 33: Ronilda 2.0

Royal screaming 'wait, what' was so unnerving, it caused Ronilda's eyes to pop open. She tried to sit upright on her bed and took the moment to see that she was in some kind of medical room. With the dim lights on in the hallway, she could tell that it was close to late in the night. Ronilda kicked the bed sheets and after seeing her bandaged areas, she took precautions by slowly standing up on the cold floor.

Ronilda grabbed a hand mirror resting on a table. Her reflection looked tired, but determined to put an end to all of this. "This time," she told her reflection, "I'm no longer playing nice around those aliens. I have Mystical Monkey Power and was trained by villains! I'm taking things seriously **now**!" She snapped her fingers, summoning what she had. A blue glow went up from her toes to her head, changing her from her patient gown and bandages into a cleaner, new outfit that crossed both her old Y.E.A.R.N uniform and her martial arts outfit, only with the colors switched. Where her magenta used to be, it was all black. Where her black used to be was substituted by blue. The fabric of her uniform was made out of strong, felted material. A black belt came along to keep her Lily Staff in place.

Ronilda admired her new appearance. Then, she put down her mirror and glowed blue again. "Now, about those aliens..." Her body turned into electricity that made its way through the outlet.

 _The next morning_

The alien mercenaries woke up first thing at sunrise. Flora was the first to volunteer to make breakfast while Diamona kept an eye on the GJ base and Ruba... Well, Ruba was still in quite a state. She was sitting down with her arms crossed, trying to think about the battle she and Ronilda Stoppable had a few days ago.

"Cheer up, Ruba. You'll slay her," Flora said encouragingly. She grabbed a bow full of strawberries and began dumping them into a pot to cook some juice.

"Uh, Flora, where did you get those strawberries?" Ruba frowned.

"That's what they're called?" Flora took a strawberry between her fingers to have a better look. "I found them in some nearby human farm. I flirted with the farmer and he just gave me all of these for free." She ate the strawberry. "They kind of remind me of the Blood-Of-Fragaria berries that grow in Coraplastia. My parents used to take me to collect them and we'd make breakfast juices out of them."

Flora sighed as she stirred the pot. "Ruba, what do you think the Felindrax are going to do to me and Diamona and the others once you fulfill Violet's wishes?"

"Don't worry, I had an agreement with them," Ruba said firmly. Once her breakfast juice was ready, Flora filled up a bowl of it and handed it to Ruba while the latter continued to speak. "Once I do my duty, me and my squad girls are free from the Felindrax. We can finally do what we want."

"Can we go home?" Diamona asked without looking away from the base.

"You guys can. I can't." Ruba sipped her bowl.

"This isn't right," Diamona mumbled.

"You guys haven't been away from home as long as I have. Especially with my career, I highly doubt I can stay on Earth once my duty's done."

"No, not that. Where is everyone?"

This got Ruba and Flora's attention. Rejecting breakfast, though a delicious one, they got up to join Diamona, who handed her binoculars to Ruba. The latter scowled as her binocular used its heat signature function and buzzed as it detected nothing. Well, until it detected only a dozen people crowded in one small, meeting room, but that's it.

"I only see the Earth villains, Stoppable, and two Global Justice people in that room." Ruba scowled even further. "But where are the other agents and the refugees?"

"When you say Stoppable, do you mean the father or the one we're supposed to capture?" Flora asked. This caused Ruba to have a zoom in on the meeting room. She dropped her binoculars.

"OK, we need a closer look." Ruba jumped down the quarry and ran to the front gate of the base. Diamona and Flora ran to catch up after her. They imitated her in going under the boom gate and pushing the wired door open. Not even a buzz or an alarm was unleashed as the door creaked. The alien mercenaries walked into the base's landing areas. Diamona pulled out her laser axes and held them out in case they were to be attacked. But what was there to attack them, when not even somebody from maintenance was seen? All they could hear was the breeze hitting the parked jets and some pieces of loose paper flying away.

"Remember girls," Ruba reminded them. "Felindrax rule number D97: quiet and deserted is never a good sign."

"You don't think they evacuated, did you?" Diamona suggested.

"Think. The Felindrax purposely adjusted our hearing so that we could hear whatever is happening near us even when we sleep. Plus, may I add, human jets are rather loud. I'd say one flying away while we were camping nearby would gladly wake us up."

Flora buried her hands in the solid ground. Her hands glowed green and created vibrations that spread all over the base. "I can sense the humans in the meeting room. They feel... _confused_. It's like they're wondering the same thing as we are." Flora suddenly began to sweat. "The Earth... It's burning me!" She pulled her hands away and yelped at the pain her hands got.

"It's springtime," Ruba said with a scowl. "Then again, you probably just sensed the magma at the core of the planet."

"Core of the planet? I sensed this heat just five feet below me!"

A cracking sound got their attention. The alien mercenaries looked down and saw blue cracks forming under their feet. The hissing sounds that followed urged Ruba to grab her squad members' wrists and pull them away from the cracking ground. They managed to take cover under a jet when they saw the spectacle. As more of the landing area ground cracked in blue glows, red magma exploding like geysers followed in.

"Hurry! Up the jet!" Ruba ordered. Flora created a very large, thick vine to serve as a bridge to the top of the device. Magma exploded under the jet and sent it flying. The trio had to jump off and land on top of a building. Soon enough, most of the base was engulfed in a lake of magma, and only the building they were standing on and the other one the humans were still in were intact.

"Does it happen regularly on your planet?" Flora asked nervously.

"Volcanic eruptions? Yes. The planet's core magma rising? Not so much." Ruba looked down at the dangerous lake that was trapping them.

"Maybe one of the humans has pyrokinesis?" Diamona suggested.

"The closest I've seen to those humans having heat powers are Shego and her team..." Ruba shook her head. Suddenly, Diamona reacted by covering her ears and wincing in pain.

"Diamona, what's wrong?" Flora asked.

"The ultrasounds! The ultrasounds! They're hurting my ears!" Diamona nearly cried.

" **Of course.** " The Violet Death suddenly spoke through the mouth of Ruba. " **You imbecile, why couldn't you just kill her after she fell off the tower? Royal must have lost the first of his three-strikes rules!** " Violet left room for Ruba, who spit blood out of her mouth.

"Oh yeah, that three strikes rule that leads to permanent reincarnation depending on the lethal injuries!" Flora said. "Isn't it during that giant rock landslide during our mission in Oasia that Violet used her first strike as an emergency?"

"And I got the power to turn people into zombies just by breathing on them? Yes." Ruba rubbed the blood off her mouth and straightened herself up. "In that case, Ronilda Stoppable must have her senses enhanced. Humans can't hear ultrasounds unless they know how to make sonic wave weapons." She looked down at the magma lake. "Or in this case, she used ultrasounds to manipulate the planet's geology."

"And I thought your space goddess was crazy!" Diamona shouted, since her hands still covered her ears.

"Let's go inside." Ruba walked towards the nearest door on the roof. "We'll need wet stuff to solidify that magma if we want to find her."

 _Meanwhile_

The people in the meeting room were speechless beyond anything else. Just seeing their building and only one other being surrounded by magma was startling. Will Du tried to call the other agents, but nobody was responding. Ron Stoppable was the first to open the front door, take a three minute long deep breath, and spit out a large blue gust of wind that solidified close to thirty feet of magma. Dr. Possible and the Fiskes came in with fire hydrants to spray onto the new solid rock to cool it down. Now they had an area to walk onto.

Melgo ran out of the building once they were done. "Ronilda's missing."

Martin groaned in frustration and threw his fire hydrant into the nearest still-burning magma. "Remind me to strangle the medic who told me she'd take over and I should go to sleep!"

"Welcome to my world," Stoppable said bitterly. He blew another deep breath to solidify another area and kept doing so until he ran out of breath.

"You don't think Ronilda did this, do you?" Dr. Possible asked while she used her fire hydrant on her right.

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised," Martin said. "I taught her about combining physical and mystical, especially when it comes to zodiac principles like the animal and elements, but at the same time, she's still working on them."

"Then give her an A+, because she managed to turn a Global Justice base into a new volcanic landmark," Stoppable said in a tone that sounded neither sour nor impressed. Well, no one could tell. He had been lashing out a lot lately, especially towards his mother-in-law.

Monkey Fist knocked on the solids they were now walking on as pathways above the magma. "Straight from the Earth's core. I think she overdid it by a tad."

"A good tad or a bad tad, Father?" Martin asked.

"How can I tell? I don't know if she did it while brainwashed, we'd all be dead by then if it were the case, and I don't know how she could possibly do it since, well, how do I put as nice as I can?"

"She has no control?" Stoppable guessed.

"Sure, let's go with that."

They began to walk their way on the bridge they created. Precaution was mandatory: a false step could lead to a magma bath. Only two straight lines could be performed to walk with ease, and Martin had the awkwardness of standing behind Stoppable, for whom he had mixed feelings of either leaving him alone or pushing him into the magma. Stoppable had the lines stop when he saw something ahead of them.

The mercenaries had gained access to a water hose and were making their own bridge. The smoke coming from the magma was already enough to hide them.

"I'm getting sick of this!" Ruba Kala shouted against the popping red boils. Her eyes glowed violet and she coughed out a violet gas cloud that hit dozens of magma pools nearing her. Ten seconds later, small quakes shook in the magma pools that the gas hit, and large goops rose, forming into giant zombie-like volcanic rock golems with thousands of violet-colored boiling magma veins.

"I'm guessing that her zombie-power also included zombifying minerals?" The Simian Witch gulped.

"I know you're out there, Ronilda Stoppable!" Ruba Kala shouted out in the open. "Don't make me have those golems come pick you up!" She pointed at the golems, only to drop it and gasp when giant crystal stalagmites grew from the ground and impaled all of the giants that have barely been alive for five seconds. One of the crystals popped open like a blooming flower, revealing a figure standing up with her arms crossed.

"I'm open!" Ronilda Stoppable held her hands out as if to say 'come and get it.' Ruba Kala looked pissed and jumped off, leaving behind a crater that made room for magma to slip in and for the other alien mercenaries to back away. Ruba Kala nearly reached Ronilda's crystal... until Ronilda waved a glowing blue hand up and a crystal grew to block Ruba's path, making her hit and her metal let out vicious noises of scratching as Ruba fell. Luckily, she pierced her nails into the crystal.

"Hope you enjoy the little game I just made up!" Ronilda smirked as she leaned over to gloat at Ruba. "I call it 'Godly Hosts' Penultimate Duel.' Loser surrenders. I win, you surrender to this planet. You win, I will gladly let you deliver me to your client."

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Martin screamed over the magma's boils. Ronilda didn't seem to pay attention to his outburst.

"I'm going to have to agree with him, this is pure madness!" Diamona shouted. "Ruba, none of you guys came out victorious last time you fought and Violet already had one strike! Now Royal got his!"

"And if I can say this calmly," Flora added before then screaming and clenching her hair in panic, "THAT HUMAN IS THE HOST OF THE KING OF THE GODS WHO DEFEATED VIOLET! HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO BEAT THAT?"

Apparently, the stubborn nature of ignoring others' concerns had a contagious effect on Ruba. She threw in her spare fingers up and began scaling up like an angry feline. Ronilda just stomped her foot and the crystal diced itself to collapse. The shards that fell landed in the magma, sending some flying.

"Back inside! Now!" Monkey Fist shouted. Everyone took his word and ran back in. The Simian Witch and Martin used their powers to create red glowing lassos that grabbed Diamona and Flora and tossed them back inside. The aliens hit their faces on the wall.

"I'm so confused..." Diamona groaned. "I thought humans were barbarians..."

"No time!" Martin and his mother shoved the door closed. The fight outside was getting tense, the floor beneath the door was actually beginning to melt. Seeing no other option, everyone inside the building ran up to the roof. The spectacle was a mix of glorious and a nightmare: magma was spreading or solidifying into spiked shapes. crystals kept popping, and based on the movement of the two dueling figures, Ruba looked like she was getting overwhelmed.

"This is crazy!" Dr. Director exclaimed. She ducked to avoid a fireball.

"What have I done?" Stoppable said in horror.

"You didn't do anything wrong," Melgo told him. "You just didn't know that being the Ultimate Monkey Master would result in... this."

"If this was Sensei's way of telling me, he's not going to be happy to see me in the afterlife!" He looked at the Fiskes. "You're the experts in Mystical Monkey Power. Is there any way to stop this?"

"At this rate, I don't think I'm fit to name myself an expert," Monkey Fist said in guilt. "This is my fault. I never should have uncovered the Jade Idols. Now the world might die to a never ending clash of gods."

Diamona and Flora looked at each other. They had to find an idea. The last thing they needed was for the Lorwardian client to go back on his deal. They had to bring in Ronilda... for the sake of their freedom. Diamona pulled out her PDA and began tapping on the screen before finally disabling the satellites.

"Ruba! _Gusb ik vre sajsa!"_ Flora shouted over the noise of the conflict. All the people from Earth looked confused, but Ruba Kala seemed to have understood it while she held back crystal spears that Ronilda threw at her.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Ruba shouted back at Flora.

"You heard her!" Diamona screamed before the two aliens screamed together: " **GUSB IK VRE SAJSA!** "

Ruba looked behind her. She sighed something and jumped out of the way, dodging the crystals that hit the earth. She ran and dove right into the nearest pool of magma.

Ronilda paused and rushed her way to where Ruba had jumped off. Then, the magma suddenly turned into a dark shade of violet that erupted so high, it reached the clouds, infecting them with its hue. The violet magma solidified and exploded. Ruba Kala was floating in the air, her air moving and her entire skin glowing purple. Her fists were so tight, it almost made her hands bleed purple blood.

" **YOU WON'T GO SO FAR, ROYAL!"** Violet screamed through her host's mouth. " **IT HAS COST ME MY SECOND STRIKE, BUT AT LEAST NOW WE ARE EVEN!** "

"As I intended!" Ronilda shouted. Her eyes glowed blue and she held her arms out. The earth shook and opened; more magma erupted and turned blue as Ronilda commanded them to shoot at Ruba. The latter clapped her hands and the violet clouds created rain that created new landscape for her to run her way back down. She threw in a kick, Ronilda caught her and swung her off, only for Ruba to land back on her feet. She sent in a blast of violet clouds, which Ronilda blocked off with a wall of crystals, which them grew spikes and moved forward. Ruba inserted her nails into the wall and clenched them to shatter it.

The spectators (excluding the alien ones, who had managed to discreetly sneak back inside) were distracted by the terrifying spectacle. Edina cowered behind her father, who shielded her in case worse things were to come. Seeing his friends terrified, Martin had no choice. When a new large chunk of giant crystal near the building, he jumped off the roof and gave it a powerful punch, making the crystal break and fall on the 'land'.

"MARTIN, GET BACK!" Monkey Fist shouted.

Martin refused to listen. He ran as fast as he could on the rock bridges, dodged the fireballs and falling crystals, and held his breath when purple clouds came by. He reached the area where the girls were dueling: both of them were holding each other's wrists to prevent the other from summoning new attacks. Martin jumped in and kicked Ruba on the side, sending her flying onto a rock and falling unconscious. Ronilda grew a crystal sword and prepared to behead Ruba until Martin blocked her by holding back the blade.

"You have to stop!" He said.

"Get out of my way!" Ronilda snarled.

"No! You never had it in your heart to kill anyone, be it Mystical Monkey Power or not!" Tears began to grow out of his usually cold eyes and trail down his cheeks. "Please! I don't care what happens to those aliens or the world, and I don't care if you're a Stoppable! I just want my Ronilda back! The one I love!"

The words hit Ronilda. Her expression softened and the crystal sword disintegrated. Soon enough, the climate went back to normal and the magma returned to the center of the Earth. All that was left of the battlefield was a distorted base field and crystals now planted with it.

"Ronilda?" Martin reached out and held her cheek in his hand. Her expression had softened, but it was now unreadable. No feeling could be described. "It's going to be alright."

"I'm sorry, Martin," Ronilda finally choked out.

Nobody had the same point of view. From the humans who were still watching from the roof, it looked like the aliens had taken the lead. From Diamona and Flora, who managed to make their way out, they were stunned by the twist. But from Martin's perspective, he saw Ronilda finally breaking into tears when Ruba's metal nails pierced his chest from the back. Martin fell, clinging onto his bleeding chest. Ronilda was sobbing hysterically as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You're a maniac," Ruba said. "You knew all along that it would take me injuring your boyfriend physically for you to surrender."

"What do you care?" Ronilda asked through her tears. "You know nothing. You have nothing left to love besides your freedom. And you're getting it. Just take me to your stupid client and let's get this done with."

Ruba was still startled. She began pulling out some Lorwardian handcuffs, but she held back. She still felt unsure. This didn't seem right. It was almost as if Ronilda _purposely_ wanted to be captured. But why?

"Are you deaf?" Ronilda snapped. "Just handcuff me already!"

Ruba immediately cuffed Ronilda. "You're really nothing like your parents," she said in shock.

"Like I said: what do you care?"

"I... I don't know."

Diamona and Flora caught up to them and convenient stabled the satellites, to make sure that the client saw what they knew he wanted to see. Ruba had captured Ronilda Stoppable.

Just as the humans decided to catch up to them, a green ray pulled in the alien mercenaries and Ronilda up and into the distant high sky.

"R... Ronilda... why?" Martin coughed and fainted.


	34. Wardeth

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 34: Wardeth

The green ray had temporarily blinded Ronilda and then succeeded in knocking her out. When she woke up, she found herself in a dark green suit and lying on what seemed to be the bottom of a cylindrical glass containment. She got up and almost dropped her jaw. She couldn't tell what kind of room she was in, a conference room or a lab, but one thing was certain. The window giving her a view of outer space meant she wasn't on Earth.

 _Happy now?_ Royal said in a rather disappointed tone. _You managed to surrender to the aliens at the cost of the one you love._

Ronilda said nothing. This was part of her plan. Phase 1, get in the alien ship. Phase 2, meet the alien who was so desperate to get his hands on her. Phase 3, destroy everything.

Yeah, that seemed like such a good plan.

She knocked on the glass. It was so rough, it could be as solid as any metal. She placed her hand on the glass and her hand glowed blue in an attempt to crack it, but the entire glass suddenly began to generate bolts that knocked Ronilda back on her butt. When the bolts died out, the glass glowed until it seemed to grow a new layer.

"Give it a rest already."

Ronilda looked and found Ruba sitting on some steps on the other side of the containment. Her eyes looked tired and one of her hands juggled some kind of bottle while the other caressed five empty bottles of the same kind. "Combination of the tungsten that made the Lotus Blade and the blueprints that made the Centurion project. Just the stuff ya stole when you were brainwashed. Mix it with Lorwardian tech and you get a cage that increases its fortifications the more you try to break out of it using your powers."

"Thanks for the tip." Ronilda sat down with her legs crossed. "Where's your client?"

"Chilling off his booze." Ruba cupped her mouth and managed to hold back a hiccup. "He was so happy that I captured you, he threw a big party last night. Drank three-quarters of his ship's supply in Lorwardian alcohol."

"How much in bottles?"

Ruba clicked her metal claws to count for a few seconds until she came to a number. "55. Luckily for me, thanks to my bionics, I can't get drunk."

"You just hiccupped," Ronilda pointed out. Ruba was about to protest, but she accidentally let her hand go off her mouth, which released hiccups _and_ green bubbles.

"Well, like you said, what do I care?" Ruba gulped down another sip. "Ya know, you're crazy. The stuff you do... jumping off amusement park rides, making a base your own Armageddon, purposely acting like a monster so that your boyfriend would come to be stabbed by me... you're twisted."

"Again, why do you care?"

"Because I don't understand why." Ruba threw her now empty bottle and watched I created a broken stain glass display on the floor. "You're a Possible and a Stoppable. You're supposed to be benevolent one and you only use your powers when your loved ones are threatened. But what I saw down there... you _threatened_ your loved ones. You could have evacuated them from the base, but you let them stick around, you didn't even shield them. You _let me stab your boyfriend!_ " Ruba punched on the glass, which did not react nor did it shock her with bolts. "I'm supposed to be the bad guy! I'm the one hosting an evil space goddess! Why are you... taking my role?"

"Because I have nothing left to preserve." Ronilda turned her back to avoid looking at Ruba. "Let's face it. Now that I know who I am and who my parents were, I see that I fit nowhere. What's the point of living now that I know I was never meant to have my own life?" She shook her head. "Who am I kidding? You're a bionic creep who's about to get _her_ life back, why am I talking about my problems to you?"

Ruba raised her finger to respond, but no words could come out. The prisoner had a point. Besides hoping for her soon freedom, Ruba had no one who wanted her back and her bionic limbs weren't going to say otherwise. Just then, the floors and walls began to shake and the doors opened. Two guards came in, and Ronilda actually stood up in shock in her containment when she saw that the alien guards were green men with yellow eyes, black and magenta military uniforms, spears, and a height that defeated the one of the tallest basketball players on the planet. "OK," Ronilda said, "that's something I don't see everyday."

Ruba got up and wiped off her mouth. A shadowed figure came from behind the guards and barked at them in some alien language, which must have meant that they were dismissed since the guards went outside. Ruba bowed on her knees.

"The specimen with the destructive power," she said. "The offspring of the ones who destroyed your nation's army."

"I know who she is," a male voice came from the shadowed figure. Finally, the figure came out and Ronilda almost felt like every bone in her body cracked at the sight of the alien. He was of the same species as the guards, only taller with the height of ten-feet. He was of average size, and yet the pale red scars that covered his arms suggested he endured many battles. His magenta and black suit looked more like it was meant to endure lab stains than war bloodshed, his shoulder plates and cuff bracelets were made of some kind of gold, his green hair was cut in a sharp bob cut with black dyes, and his yellow eyes with red irises had parallel scars that almost reminded Ronilda of the ones the Simian Witch had. His sharp facial features also suggested that he could be in his late thirties or early forties. At the center of his uniform stood an old, familiar symbol. The symbol of the microchip.

"So that's the guy who brainwashed me," Ronilda crossed her arms. "The height doesn't really give it away."

"And you're the child of a cheerleader and her simian-phobic battle mate," the alien shrugged. He walked up to Ruba. "You've succeeded."

"You doubt me?" Ruba asked coldly.

"No, you just performed better than my soldiers." The alien grimaced in an unreadable expression. Was it disgust? Shame? Gloating? Admiration? Ronilda could not tell. "Frankly, Lorwardian soldiers are so primitive. You'd think that if they were more evolved, I wouldn't have waited a decade or two to accomplish my plans." He paused and let out a chuckle. "What am I doing? I should be proceeding with the introductions!"

He turned to face Ronilda, nearly making her nervous as she heard his stomps nearly shaking the walls. "I won't be requiring introductions from you, Ronilda Stoppable."

"How come you know me?" She asked.

"Today's the first time we actually met, but I've known you existed since I've been doing research on the force that Earth has that your species calls Mystical Monkey Power." The alien walked up to a nearby desk and pressed a button. A computer with a green screen pulled down and turned on, revealing footage of what seemed to be some kind of battle. Alien pods were assaulting Earth cities and four people were fighting against them and two aliens.

Ronilda frowned when she saw two familiar people among the four humans. "Wait... those are Melgo's parents. With..." The words would not come out when she saw that the other two were teenagers, a girl in a ragged graduation robe and a boy in a spacesuit.

"Oh, yes. Your parents." The alien smirked. "Rather uncanny, don't you think? How your genetics have mixed so well to fabricate you, your father's side was not instantly recognized but your mother's side gave some a feeling of déjà vu." He rubbed his eye. "I'm still amused that the Fiskes never realized until just a few hours ago that the offspring of their worst enemies has been freely walking in their house."

"The same way that I'm not amused that a giant green alien is not getting on with it?"

He scowled at her. "Touché. Anyway, tell me what you see." He showed her the rest of the footage. This time, it showed the two aliens against her parents. The male of the aliens was holding an unconscious Kim Possible by the leg. Whatever they were talking about, it must have been bad, since Ron Stoppable turned blue and used his powers to defeat the aliens by throwing them into a crashing mother ship. Ruba whistled when the fireworks ended.

"Well?" The alien asked when he paused the footage back to when Ron Stoppable was blue.

"Uh... my parents defeated your kind?"

"Barely right," the alien shook his head. "Your parents stopped an inferior invasion. The deceased commanders Warhok and Warmonga only brought in the essentials to take over a planet of insects." He pointed at the blue Ron Stoppable. " _This_ is not an insect! A mere insect does not power up and immediately kill the two greatest Lorwardian warriors in the universe... my parents!"

" _Your parents?_ " Ronilda was shocked.

"They looked nothing alike, right?" Ruba shrugged as she checked her nails.

"I am Wardeth, their first-born son. I had a twin, Warblood, but I murdered him back in school." Wardeth shrugged. "Classic Lorwardian society. The ones who were physically fit at birth were immediately labeled for military life, while the handicapped ones were placed in scientific life."

"You don't look disabled." Ronilda frowned in confusion. "OK, a bit taller than life, but still. You look in good shape."

"Thank you. Unfortunately they did not approve of a son who wasn't bulky despite the height, so Warhok and Warmonga left me with scientists while they pampered my twin. Naturally, I grew up to become among the best in the intellectual field, no charges were done on me when I lethally turned my twin into a lab rat... literally. And since I was the only child of Warhok and Warmonga left, it is my befallen duty to avenge them. See, regardless on your strained relationship, if your parents were killed in a failed invasion, Lorwardian customs wanted the child to avenge them by using the murderer's methods against the enemy."

"That's some weird customs."

"Yes, but who cares about customs? I claimed to follow the orders solely so that I could study the power your father had used. His blue power was a bit too close to the Lorwardians' belief in the Great Blue, but I am more of a man of science rather than mythology, so I stayed near Earth for observance until I could get as much data as I could on the power." He clasped his hands and rubbed them together. "Team Possible had gone without a trace, leaving no possible clue as to where the holder of the blue-colored power was... until I remembered that Martin Fiske was another bearer of it. A bit red, but still... I WANTED THE POWER!" He practically shouted.

"And let me guess. You would have kidnapped him as a kid until you found I was a better option since my dad killed your folks."

"Quite." Wardeth smiled sadistically. "After Fiske revived his parents from the Yono, my satellites caught your father's ninja friend Yori flying from Japan to America. We did not fully track them down, but one thing was certain: the detectors I had built to evaluate the Mystical Monkey Power informed me that the power had _tripled_." He pointed at Ronilda. "You, even as a mere sprout, are twice as powerful as Ron Stoppable! Oh, I had sent some soldiers to try abducting you when you were still harmless, but somehow you vanished!" He dropped his shoulders and sighed. "Sure, I pursued my research for the next fourteen years, but my men got nothing until my machines finally traced you to the Minalshari. I discreetly went to Earth to hijack the Bebes and switch the Hope Diamond necklace with a false clone bearing my brainwashing microchip. As I used you to add the final touches to my research, I hired Ruba to look into some things that were brought to my attention. And what do you know? You and your father had the power of the Great Blue that the Lorwardians venerate! Or should I say, Royal the king of the gods?"

"Yeah, it's a great resumé of how you did your homework, but that says nothing about your actual science fair project, war nerd," Ronilda said.

"It's Wardeth!" Wardeth snapped.

"Wardeth, war nerd, do I look like I care?" Ronilda rolled her eyes.

Wardeth looked confusingly at Ruba. "Was she always like this or did you give her a lobotomy with those hands of yours?"

"Hey, I fought and captured her! That's what you hired me!" Ruba held out her hands in defense. "Not my fault if Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable came up with the idea of shutting her in! Well, it was mostly Possible."

"I mean, their flesh and blood is in her own right naive, but that unimpressed? I was hoping for a mere hint of shallow, not someone who acts like everything I say is déjà vu!"

"Because planning an alien invasion, disregarding your planet's custom, and hunting me down so that you could use my power doesn't sound like basic villainy?" Ronilda pointed. "I'm going to guess right away that you intended to inject wires on me so that you can charge up a laser canon and some robots so that you can destroy Earth and then proceed to do the same thing to your planet out of spite and then rule the universe."

"To think I spent 10 hours preparing flash cards for my gloating monologue!" Wardeth pulled out some green flash cards that he immediately ripped into ants with his fingers. He took a deep breath. "It doesn't matter. Thanks to the psychological manipulations I've done to you after you were affected by my microchip, I've managed to single you out from the other humans. You won't be expecting any rescuing from anyone from your planet. And by the time I've conquered the universe with my MMP-charged artillery, all the power draining will have worn your life out, you'll be dead in hopefully a year or half of it from now!" Wardeth pushed a button. Ronilda's containment was pulled down to a dark floor below. Green fluids and wires came from the floor, with the fluids filling the containment to the top. Ronilda tried to hold her breath, but then one of the wires began to wrap itself over her mouth and others began to coil over the rest of her limbs, immobilizing Ronilda. Like snake fangs, smaller wires impaled their way through her skin. She then felt as if she was burning on the inside. What was really happening was that the fluids were forcing her power's aura to do its function from the inside while the wires drained her Mystical Monkey Power. They glowed blue, sharing their new color with the Lorwardian machinery they were connected to. Soon enough, Wardeth's ships had areas glowing in blue, making the extraterrestrial scientist eagerly jumpy as his screens showed the weapons receiving glowing blue veins or buzzing with full energy.

"Yes! Yes!" Wardeth clasped his hands. "I have made HISTORY! My fellow Lorwardians, we shall strike the Earth with the very weapon they ultimately used to shame us! Prepare for a full on strike in New York City!"

"New York?" Ruba asked. "Why attack there?"

"To rub off the irony," Wardeth said. "Guess who works as a diplomat for the UN and who will be unpleasantly surprised to see what her actions have done to her child?"

Ruba nodded. She didn't have to guess further to understand what he meant.

Wardeth was going to send his first strike on Kim Possible.

 _Back on Earth_

Martin grunted as Dr. Possible applied some more disinfectant on his injuries after she checked the stitching she had given him. "Still a bit sensitive," she said as she applied new bandages, "but as long as you don't go too rough on them, you should be fine." Once she was done straightening the bandages, she saw the heartbroken expression Martin had on his face. "Don't worry. We'll bring Ronilda back."

"She knew that the only way she'd surrender to the aliens was if they hurt me," he bit his lips. "I feel used."

"You weren't used." Dr. Possible tried to reassure him. "Ronilda just doesn't know how to handle her fears."

"But she's afraid of feeling imprisoned. It's what's she felt like when you kept her in your apartment for years..."

"And now she has a new fear. Losing you." Dr. Possible put away the tools on the tray. "Did Drakken ever tell you how he nearly succeeded in taking over the world?"

"You mean the one with the Lil' Diablos? I heard it back when I was ten, I was never able to take him seriously. I mean, using a kids' meal toy to dominate the world?"

"True. But did he mention the part on where he would have won if his plan to crush Kim with her worst weakness succeeded?"

Martin arched an eyebrow. "He actually never mentioned that."

The woman smiled. "Well, you'd be shocked. Despite my daughter's perfectionist nature and her reputation as a crime-fighter, Kim was actually really bad with boys. She had many crushes, but she never managed to keep the relationships. Then, one day, right around the time of her junior prom, she met this boy named Eric. It was like the perfect match in her perspective... until he revealed himself to be a synthodrome created by Drakken."

"Drakken... created a robotic boyfriend for the cheerleader?"

"You can imagine, Kim felt so heartbroken about the fact that she could never see that he was real. She nearly gave up on saving the world... until Ron made her see that the right guy for her was actually next to her the whole time." She petted him on the cheek. "I guess what I'm saying is that Ronilda may have inherited Kim's weakness of boys and relationships. The difference is, you are by far the first and only guy that Ronilda has developed a strong love for. She recognizes that her love for you is her weakness, and her 'small recent exploit' is her way of confirming that weakness and to remind herself to protect that weakness in the future."

Martin rubbed the first tear off his eye and nodded. "I guess it might make sense."

"Come on, let's go join the others."

They made their way through the hallway and to the conference room, where the others were waiting.

"You OK, pal?" Gilliard asked Martin.

"I got a few aliens to punch," he shrugged.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"We don't have time to waste. Knowing what the Lorwardians have done the last time they came to invade, this one will be worse now that they have Ronilda," Dr. Director said. "Problem is, our satellites can't detect them."

"Which is why my husband and I have come with a thought," the Simian Witch said. "Since Ronilda was able to 'sense' the presence of Ruba Kala because they have the essences of gods, Ron Stoppable should be able to trace her to where they are keeping her."

"I can't just _sense_ her as if I can sense the presence of someone behind my back," Ron Stoppable stated, "but I have a way. Yori and Sensei told me that in case either I or Ronilda get lost, we could use the Lotus Blade as a compass to find the missing one."

"Good idea!" Kronos said in agreement.

"Guess we're heading to Japan." Dr. Director summoned a keyboard until Ron Stoppable put his hand out to stop her.

"I never said the Lotus Blade was still in Yamanouchi. It's with my wife."

"What on Earth is the Lotus Blade doing with Kim Possible?" Monkey Fist was baffled.

"The ninjas gave it to me after I dealt with Warhok and Warmonga in case I ever needed to protect Kim again," Ron Stoppable explained. "I then managed to have it permanently stay as a proper jewel that I used to propose Kim."

"You sealed your vows by giving your bride a ring that's a shapeshifting sword?" Buffy narrowed her eyes. "You heroes are weird."

"The ring-appearance status placed a protection on my wife once we were married. And because of my link with the Lotus Blade, I was able to know Kim's location even though we avoided contact."

"So where is she right now?" Dr. Possible asked.

"In New York City. She got that promotion from the UN before we split, remember?"

"So you two didn't have time to be a proper family, but you had enough nerves to maintain your careers?" Monkey Fist facepalmed himself. "I pity your daughter."

"Tell that to my wife."

 _Hours later, in the United Nations' conference room_

This seemed like another random morning for the UN representatives of the Security Council. They were doing yet another meeting to debate the progression of establishing security.

"And now with further ado, I summon diplomat Melbi Sopski to reveal her plan to improve the UN plan on the refugee issue of..."

Melbi Sopski had no chance to start her speech when a group of security guards opened the doors, making way for Dr. Director and most of the Earth's villains.

"I hope Global Justice has a good reason for interrupting one of our meetings _and_ coming with these rascals!" Melbi Sopski got down from the platform.

The newcomers made a pathway for Ron Stoppable to walk through. He stopped when facing Melbi Sopski, who froze as if to recognize him.

"You can lose the disguise, Kim, I know it's you," he said.

Sopski raised her hand up and pulled her blonde hair, revealing it to be a wig hiding the famous aging red hair of the famous old teen heroine.

"We aren't supposed to communicate, Ron," she said firmly.

"We'll communicate later." He held out his hand. "I need the ring I gave you for our wedding."

Kim Possible's eyes widened. "You must be joking. _Now?_ When I'm having a conference in the UN?"

A thundering noise came from outside. Since the conference room had a giant window, they could see what was happening outside in the city. The gray clouds became brightly blue and a shower of blue meteors came in. Once ten feet from the ground, the meteors changed, opening up into familiar pods, only twice as tall and with blue stains instead of red ones. They began to shoot rays at the city while robots popped their way out of the pods to attack the citizens.

Kim Possible wasted no time and handed Ron Stoppable the ring. Once it hit his palm, it turned back into the Lotus Blade and spun around like a compass until it pointed right up at the top of the sky.

"Go figure," he muttered.

The walls of the building suddenly began to shake. The UN members ran away as fast as they could. The ceiling lifted up, for one of the alien mercenaries, Flora, had used her powers to have giant roots rip off and throw away the first half of the UN headquarters. Behind her, Diamona and Ruba Kala watched silently while Wardeth clapped in amusement.

"Oh, this is _rich_!" He snickered at the puny humans. "Heroes and villains gathering at the last minute! Why? Because the son of Warhok and Warmonga is raiding the planet with the powers of everyone's favorite!"

" _You're_ the son of the last two Lorwardians who showed up?" Shego pointed in shock.

"Where's my daughter?" Ron Stoppable demanded.

Kim Possible gasped in horror. "What? Why is Ronilda with him?"

"It's one of those coming-of-age stories!" Gilliard brushed the topic aside. "Can we talk about this later?"  
"Oh, sure! You can talk about this in the afterlife!" Wardeth curtsied and backed away. "Ladies, they're all yours!"

Ruba Kala got ready and held out her metal claws like a cat ready to pounce, Diamona pulled out her laser axes, and Flora's hands glowed to summon all the plants in the neighborhood to form a humanoid tree army.

"OK. I already have a mean face in my stomach, so I'll make it easier." Martin growled and cracked his knuckles, sparking some red bolts of his powers. "Take down everyone who comes in your way, but the Tough Tigress with the corpse breath is mine!"


	35. The Second Strike

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 35: The Second Strike

Ronilda's mind was still shut from the experiment her body was dealing with. For every ounce of MMP that got drained out of her, it kept refueling and the physical pain endured.

At one point of the endless torture, Ronilda finally ignored her pain. Soon, her eyes opened and she was back in a world of darkness outlined in blue. But for some reason, instead of seeing herself in her containment and wired, she saw herself in some kind of palace. What it was made of, she couldn't tell, but the way it looked suggested that it was carved out rather than built out of foundations. Faint voices were heard arguing at the end of the hallway she was in, so she followed the trail of torches to some giant door. Ronilda wasn't sure if she should knock or open the door, but once she saw her hand phasing through the solid barrier, she shrugged and walked her way through.

Ten beings were arguing in what looked like a throneroom, none of them noticed her presence. The beings didn't seem to be humans. Well, they had _humanoid limbs_ , but they had other strange anatomies. Their heads had appendages built up to create shapes out of the different unique materials each had, their shoulders, wrists, and ankles had spikes growing from them, and each being had its body and eyes glowing in a different color. It took Ronilda only a few minutes to realize that these beings were the space gods.

Her link with Royal must be causing her to see his past memories.

Ronilda spotted the past memory of Royal. His blue glowing form was the only one sitting to the others standing. He wore some kind of armor carved out of a thousand glowing crystals, covering most of his body, his skin was as dark as outer space, and his crown was made of a mass of crystals and glowing stars, it almost looked like his head was growing a volcano pouring gemstones instead of lava. Unlike his fellow gods, he seemed to want to avoid speaking. No, he looked depressed and was stroking some kind of glowing red rock that rested on his laps.

" _Brother, we need your word on the matter_ ," one of the other gods spoke up at last. Ronilda couldn't tell if it was a female or a male; the robe and headdress the divinity wore were made of some metal carved out to resemble human bones gathered to make a thousand spider legs. " _With Violet sealed away in that black hole and Crimson now gone, we need to know what you think we should do. The frustration of Violet has plagued the mortals, I fear corruption and negativity are now part of their natures._ "

"It must be how they decided to split their essences into shards," Ronilda realized. Luckily, nobody in the memory heard her. She looked back at Royal, who was still stroking that red stone and looking miserable and inattentive to the other gods. Ronilda wasn't sure why he wasn't paying attention until she remembered what Kronos and the other god had said.

 _Crimson and Royal were consorts._

 _Crimson now gone._

"Crimson must have died when they were up against Violet," Ronilda gasped, feeling pity for the king of the gods.

" _Give our brother and king some space, can't you see that the loss of Crimson has pained him?"_ A brown-glowing goddess chided the others and placed a hand on Royal's shoulder. " _My apologies. The situation is tensing them._ "

" _Can you blame them, Cedar?_ " Royal sighed. " _My brothers and sisters, I must confess. Our new problem has gone to heights that not even I can handle. I've been tricked by my own benevolence. Maybe Violet was right... maybe mortals are not as harmless as we envisioned them._ "

Half of the gods nodded in consent. The other half shook in disagreement. " _But it's not the mortals' fault!_ " A small goddess, with glowing white pearls making her hair, protested. " _Violet corrupted them against their will!_ "

" _Sure, Pearl._ " An indigo god made of glass said mockingly. " _She corrupted them, and even though being banished to a black hole has freed them, a quarter of the mortal population is fighting to destroy our temples, execute our priests and priestesses, and melt our statues to make weapons!_ "

Royal straightened on his chair. Ronilda quietly watched and listened as her god turned to the gray one. " _Iron, as the god of age, what is your opinion on the matter_?"

" _Both parties are right on the matter_ ," Iron said. " _Pearl and her supporters believe firmly that the mortals are mere victims of Violet's influences of frustration, which is true._ _ **But**_ _banishing her and forbidding her of a physical form has kept her from manipulating them, we let time pass, and we see that the mortals are still reacting out of free will. Don't get me wrong, it is a good thing that they are learning to care for themselves and improving on their methods of survival, but as they learn to survive, they learn to evolve, and as they learn to evolve, they choose to stray off from the gods._ "

" _And with Crimson gone, the mortals spread hatred between each other,_ " an orange colored god, with the motif of branches carved out of topazes and tiger's eyes, spoke up. " _If they do not evolve so much to the point that they'd downright kill us, how long do we have until they lead to their own extinctions? How much time do we have before there's the rise of genocides, slavery, discrimination, murders, and individual harassment?_ "

" _And how much time we might have left before these mortals decide that they are meant to be gods and choose to steal our essences?"_ Iron nodded.

Royal stomped his hand on his throne, getting the attention from the other guards. Ronilda never imagined he'd get so angry while he kept holding the red rock in his hands. " _We already lost two goddesses through betrayal and murder. This will never happen again!_ "

" _What should we do then?_ " Cedar asked.

" _Do you remember how we went in hibernation until we finally reincarnated from the forms of full humanoids?_ "

" _The shard expelling? Again?_ " The indigo colored god groaned.

" _Yes, the shard expelling again,_ " Royal glared at the indigo colored god.

" _Isn't it supposed to be for emergencies_?" Pearl asked.

" _This is an emergency. We will once again split our essences into shards and spread them throughout the universe. But this time, have your largest chunks sent on a specific planet that can turn it into an artifact. Only a worthy one can wield the powers of your essence, and the worthy one's firstborn will be your host. If two or three of you have gone through the three strikes, that means we were right about mortals. Our pantheon must be revived to cleanse and reborn once more._ "

" _But as our king, you can only split in two shards._ " Pearl pointed out.

" _I'll crush the smallest and send the biggest to that planet I've been building in the Milky Way. The mortals there aren't fully corrupted yet._ "

The world of the memory dissolved around Ronilda and transformed to what seemed like the current reality. Ronilda knew that it wasn't real since she didn't have wires draining her and she wasn't floating in fluids. The containment glass was gone, but she found no reason to get up and leave. She just sat and admired the darkness surrounding her.

She felt someone sitting next to her. Since she felt like she was sitting next to rocks, she knew who sat next to her.

"How come I'm seeing your memories?" Ronilda asked Royal.

" _Probably because I've been recalling them too much to think about certain things._ "

"I'm sorry about your consort."

Royal spoke as if he was forcing himself to remain composed and avoid crying. " _I missed my love so much, I only managed to preserve her heart._ "

"That rock you were holding? You know, 'heart of stone' is taken a little too literally here..."

" _Normally, she could split her essence in ten, and her heart was not even the biggest piece._ "  
"Now I feel stupid."

" _Don't be. Crimson and I had a good relationship. It broke me to be apart from her, I risked bringing her heart with me when I had to send my essence to Earth. As I stayed dormant, waiting for my right host, her heart had been consumed by Toshimu and his descendants got Crimson's aspects of Mystical Monkey Power._ "

"Crimson had an influence on..." Ronilda slapped herself. "Of course, it makes sense! I have blue MMP because of you, but the Fiskes have _red_ MMP because of Crimson!" She paused. "But... that can't mean that Martin is her host. Does it?"

" _I've been trying to think about it. It's highly possible, but I'm not sure. Crimson doesn't seem to have responded at all to her having a host, unlike me. She might just be sleeping her eternity away for all I know._ "

"OK, we need to think of a plan." Ronilda got into her thinking pose. "A, how do I get out. B, go on Earth and kick some alien butt. C, given the circumstances, what to do to avoid alien gods destroying mortals?"

" _It's more of replacing than destroying_. _You know how you mortals have these stories about some man putting his family on a boat while his god floods the world or how some siblings threw rocks behind them to sprout men and women? That's kind of our cleansing plan._ "

"But you can't just remake mortals out of scratch! I mean, sure, you are correct about their faults, but isn't there a way to be more diplomatic? Some mortals still need to evolve, it's the only way they can embrace change. Do you know how long it took humans to embrace equality between genders, races, and religions?"

" _3 centuries, 2000 years, and too many eras. You humans really take a much longer time to evolve_." The god shrugged. " _But that's where you come in. You're my host, and you must take charge. If some of my kind have been located in mortal forms, it means that our pantheon must be gathered. The mind of the mortal plus the powers of the gods should give you the edge you need to avoid total razing of the mortals._ "

"But I don't want to play god!" Ronilda complained.

" _Whether you are willing or not, one of the methods will have to be applied._ "  
Ronilda groaned. "OK, fine! If you help me out and I end the alien invasion, I do what you want?"

" _And in return, I can give you an old ritual that would allow you to extract me out of you._ " This stunned Ronilda at the possibility of being normal. " _I must warn you. The price will cause you some time away from home. Even I am not sure when you'll return._ "

"I'll have to leave Earth?" Ronilda gulped.

" _Maybe for just half a year... but if I hit the third strike... It would be forever._ "

Ronilda sighed and got up. "Fine. I'll do it."

" _Good. FYI, you'll have to raise your body temperature to explode those wires_."

Ronilda wasn't sure why he said that, but then it made sense after further thought. Royal had disappeared, so she sat down in a Lotus pose, closed her eyes, and took deep breaths. _I am made of fire, I am made of fire_ , she thought. Her mental self began to glow in a blue fire that got higher in heat and wider in flames, but her physical body began to grow a blue aura that enlarged by the second. The wires draining her couldn't take the heat and began to explode like miniature fireworks, causing her glass containment to break. Green fluids splashed into the darkness.

Ronilda lied on the floor, her body severely burned. The dark areas began to lighten on her skin and she felt her body lift up back on its feet. Her eyes opened to see herself free.

"Huh. I don't feel different..." Ronilda stepped off the platform of her containment and nearly slipped. When her hands grabbed on to something to keep her balance, she froze.

Her skin was as blue as when she glowed, only it looked like this time, the cool pigmentation was permanent. She picked up a glass shard from the floor: aside from her skin, her ginger blonde hair was royal blue-colored and reflecting light, meaning each strand was made of very thin crystals, and her hazel eyes were now icy blue.

"I guess now I know what it's like for your skin to turn blue when you're evil," Ronilda said passively. She threw the shard away, but she did not hear it hit the floor. Rather, it sounded like something else caught it.

Something that was made of metal.

Royal told her something in the back of her head. "Wow. No wonder I thought you were creepy by appearing in weird places, Helga Ottoski," she spoke. "I'm sorry, _Iron._ "

The glass shard moved forward into the light, accompanied by the one holding. It was Helga Ottoski. As she walked towards Ronilda, she began to physically change: she got taller and younger from the upper body to her toes, but she still kept the face of the old crone. Her rags' threads began to weave themselves into a more modern dress made of thousands of spider legs carved out of metal human bones. Her human legs kept the flesh, but the feet were as grey and as solid as the metal she was made of. She kept the hair and wore a small crown of the previously listed material. Her human eyes were now solid gray.

Helga/Iron swung her stick, turning it into an iron scepter. " _Well, brother... or sister..._ " The reincarnated god paused. " _Are you Royal talking through his host or are you still Ronilda Stoppable?_ "

"Why didn't you mention when we first met that I hosted a god?" Ronilda demanded. "Or that you were one?"

" _I had to make sure it was you. I was still having a hard time determining if you were a host or your father was, but after witnessing you reviving that Englishman, my doubts were confirmed._ " Ronilda took a step back and almost fell before Iron caught her hand and pulled her back up. " _Frankly, I agree with Royal. You were a better choice._ "

"But... what about Helga? How come I didn't sense her the way I..."

" _The way you sensed Ruba Kala as Violet's host? Quite simple: you and Ruba aren't fully reincarnated. I, on the other hand, have reincarnated from Helga Ottoski for a long time. Since I could split my essence into six shards, I sent my biggest one on Earth in the hopes of finding and reviving my brother and king. Not so different to your family's history, my shard has been turned into an artifact, an iron star of David pendant, and passed down to every generation in the Ottoski family. I waited until I could find a member with the right age and purity, and I found it in Helga Ottoski._ "

"Age and purity?"

" _She was eight when World War II started, I knew she'd need me as a mature companion, considering what was doomed to happen to her family after she boarded on the Kindertransport. Granted, I thought she'd be more mature when handling the news of their deaths. I tried to warn her, but she repeatedly tried to commit suicide... her third attempt was the last._ "

"And enter Helgiron?" Ronilda arched an eyebrow.

" _Helgiron..."_ The god contemplated with a smile. " _I actually like that_."

"Look, I know what you're going to tell me. Your attempt to convince me to jump off a drop tower? You wanted me to fully reincarnate. Well guess what? I talked with Royal. I agreed that I'd try to resolve that 'problem' you gods have my way... unless the third strike hits. And in return, he'll give me what I need to free myself of him."

" _So sacrificial you are, Royal_ ," Helgiron mused before going back to Ronilda. "You do know that even if he pulls himself out of you, spending enough time in you will give him the codes he needs to make his own body? Royal will just reincarnate, in you or not."

Ronilda said nothing. So why did she feel like she was hurting?

 _Be cautious_ , Royal said. _I know Iron. He may be the god of age, but he's crafty._

" _That's mean_ ," Helgiron commented as he telepathically heard Royal and began to pace around Ronilda. " _All I'm saying Ronilda is that your intentions are good, but your ambitions are low. You think it's a mere coincidence that people like you, Ruba Kala, Helga Ottoski, and somewhat Martin Fiske, are chosen to be reincarnations of extra-terrestrial gods? We could have just reincarnated in any mortal. Destiny chooses us for a reason._ " Helgiron placed his cold hand under Ronilda's chin and lifted it up so that she could look at him. " _You were destined to become Royal's host, thus you are destined to become the new queen of the gods. You'd become Royilda."_

"Yeah, now you're just copying me."

" _Do you understand my point_?" Helgiron asked dismissively.

Ronilda bit her lip. "I don't know... I don't want... I don't know what I don't want anymore."

" _I do. You don't want to be shut out from others. You do not want to be seen as inferior. You don't want relatives who force you into living a life that is not one you desire_." Helgiron let go of her and held out his hand, hoping that she'd grab it. " _Be the goddess you were meant to be. With our brothers and sisters gathered to execute every law you establish, your creatures to serve you, and the mortals to grovel before you, you will be free. As the reincarnation of the god of power, power is freedom!"_

Ronilda frowned. "I'm not sure..."

 _"And since the Fiske lad happens to be the unaware host of Crimson, you could bring him along."_

And Ronilda was officially lost.

 _Back on Earth_

The battle was getting intense on Earth. The humans were giving their best shots at the alien artillery, but the battle proved to be too difficult with the alien pods and weapons enhanced by MMP. The Fiskes had to go around, enhancing their allies' weapons with MMP so that Drakken's vines could have better shots at strangling the pods to death or for Killigan's golf balls to explode some robots. Many were engaged fighting against Wardeth, Diamona, and Flora, but Martin was primarily focused on fighting Ruba.

He ended up understanding why Ronilda found herself in a tie while fighting Ruba. The latter underestimated _nothing_. If Martin tried throwing her a kick in the stomach, she'd dodge and strike him on the side. If he tried to trap her in a headlock, she'd flip him over. Martin didn't dare waste his MMP on her, preferring a hand-to-hand combat. More than twenty to thirty minutes of combat, he was now lying on the wet floor of a UN bathroom with most of the toilets and sinks destroyed and the pipes creating a water display.

"I must admit, I'm somewhat impressed." Ruba snickered. She sliced off a pipe with her claws and twisted it until she had created her own form of club (the kind you use for a weapon). "You've lasted longer than ten men combined."

"I've heard better compliments." Martin's ribs hurt badly, but he still leaned on the wall to support himself as he stood up.

"I see two options here." Ruba filed her nails with her pipe club, making sparks fly. "I either kill you or you just surrender. You humans don't stand a chance against Wardeth and his invasion."

"Ronilda will stop him!" Martin snapped.

Ruba frowned. "Still loyal to her? But she's the daughter of your parents' worst enemies!"

"Yes, my parents hate Team Possible... but just like me, they came to care for Ronilda. She didn't deserve the treatment her biological family gave her!"

Ruba clutched on to her club, only now she looked like a frightened child holding on to her teddy. "I don't understand! Why aren't any of you being what your parents have destined you to be? Why is a Fiske a nice person and Ronilda Stoppable a psychopath?"

"She's not a psychopath!" Martin took advantage of Ruba's confusion, grabbed the club off her hands, and kicked Ruba into a cabinet. "But that's just the thing about you, isn't it? You don't underestimate humans, but you still don't understand their natural behaviors."

"I understand enough those who have been enhanced by the gods!"

An crack got their attention. They turned and saw that the mirror in the bathroom suddenly changed its material from glass to crystals. The crystals moved to create two big hands that pinned Martin and Ruba onto the floor. Just then, the sounds of explosions echoed from outside.

"What was that?" Martin exclaimed.

"That would be me."

Two figures stepped out of the mirror's framing.

"R...Ronilda?" Martin choked when he saw the blue-skinned version of his beloved.

" **No!** " Violet shouted through Ruba's mouth at the metal demon with the face of Helga Ottoski standing behind Ronilda. " **I should have known you were behind this! Royal, get some sense into you for once!** "

" _She's Royilda and you'll treat her with better respect!_ " Helgiron snapped her fingers. All the metals in the area pulled themselves in to create two cages moving on giant spider legs. 'Royilda' flung her hand, forcing Ruba and Martin to land and get trapped in the cages. " _Don't worry. You two will be safe._ "

"Just until we destroy whatever is unworthy on Earth," Royilda shrugged. "Then we'll all be on our merry way back to where we came from."

" **Royal, you can't do this again!** " Violet snapped and had Ruba's hands shake the bars vigorously. " **You can't let Iron... I mean, Helgiron guide you again!** "

"Why should I believe you?" Royilda said indifferently.

" _I'll make sure to deal with them, Your Majesty_." Helgiron curtsied before Royilda.

"Thank you," she said. "I have some unfinished business with the Lorwardian and my filthy mortal parents." Royilda stepped inside the mirror frame and disappeared.

"All this time," Martin scowled at Helgiron, "Helga Ottoski the traumatized Holocaust survivor from Netherfield was just another space god?"

" _Like I already told Ronilda before she became Royilda, Helga Ottoski was my host whom I eventually permanently reincarnated._ "

" **Because you knew fully well that Royal would find himself a host sooner or later!** " Violet snapped.

"Wait, I'm confused." Martin shook his head and pointed at Helgiron and Ruba-being-used-by Violet-to-speak. "Are you two both bad guys and is the Lorwardian just a mere pawn?"

" _There's no such thing as bad or good people_ ," Helgiron let out an odd smile. " _There's just... those who knows what's best for the gods and then the insects they squash on._ "

"So you're the bad guy." Martin said drily. He turned to face Ruba. "But I thought Violet was the evil one."

" _Oh, believe me, it's easier to blame the aggressive goddess of frustration than the patient, reliable god of age._ "

" **Patient my butt!** " Violet spat. She turned to Martin. " **Yes, I did corrupt mortals. But what the mortals never realized was that this isn't the first time this has happened! Everytime, the gods keep recreating mortals and treating as nothing more than docile livestock in desperate need of divine shepherds to guide them, and everytime I keep trying to get it to their heads that evolution should not be something forbidden to the mortals!** " Violet went silent and Ruba came back. "But if you've been awake since World War II... did you purposely set up events to make sure that Royal's host would awaken?"

" _Very good!_ " Helgiron clapped his metallic hands, making it sound like a cracked clock's ticking. " _Since gods can only reincarnate in the children of those who are truly worthy of the gods' powers, I knew I'd first have to find the Ultimate Master of Royal's energy. It took me a while, but eventually, sometime around the end of the 1980s, I became aware of a group of Japanese warriors who were becoming increasingly concerned about 'the rise of the one born in the line of the kind European Jewish man' and that 'his contrast would reveal the keys to the worthy's powers'._ "

"Buffy said that the Yamanouchi ninjas gave a tea full of Royal's essence to a child from the Stoppable line during the rise of Protestants," Martin realized. "The keys must have been the Jade Idols my father found."

" _Coincidence or pure engineering_?" The humans' widened their eyes at the god. " _Yes. As the god of age, I know how to manipulate mortals depending on the sanity level their ages provide them. With Monty Fiske, all I had to do was indulge on his thirst of knowledge and power to get him his fanatical, primate behavior and excavating the Jade Idols. Though it wasn't part of my strings, fate had Ron Stoppable be Kim Possible's sidekick, so I convinced Monkey Fist to call upon her services to get the last statue for him."_

"And rise the spark of what would become my father's arch-rivalry with Stoppable and awakening the latter his powers."

" _I did tire of Stoppable's slow development with his gift, so I then went on to manipulate the events that would lead to the Lorwardians invading Earth back in 2007. The dread of losing his beloved Kim finally awakened him as the Ultimate Monkey Master... while at the same time, I realized that_ _ **you**_ _..._ " Helgiron reached out and clutched Martin's chin. He groaned as the metal went through his skin. " _Your mother descends from Toshimu, the guardian of Royal's corpse. While Royal blessed Stoppable's line, the line of Toshimu was blessed by what was left of Crimson, which explains why her powers and yours are red. But for some reason, she's still dormant!_ "

Martin let out an unhappy gasp. He hoped that it wasn't true. He couldn't be the host of a space goddess!

"Funny how Violet's smoke turns mortals into zombies, but her sting can put anyone in death-like slumber, especially gods," Ruba snickered. "I guess he's useless to you if his goddess is nearly dead."

Helgiron let go of Martin. " _No matter. Eventually Crimson will have to awaken when Royal will permanently reincarnate in his host._ "

"What did you do to Ronilda?" Martin demanded.

" _Lamentable vocal corruption_." Helgiron shook his head. " _You know, it's much easier to corrupt a mortal soul traumatized by abandonment in need to prove themselves, especially when they're adults, but this is the first time Royal dares to genuinely_ _ **love**_ _his host! He dares admit his faults and warn her to be cautious of me, and all I had to do was convince her to take you with her so she'd fulfill her role!_ " Helgiron then cracked his knuckles. " _Eventually, I'll have to damage her badly enough and then, well... Royal's going to have to choose. He either dies in her body... or she dies in his._ "

Martin threw an angry red blast at him, but the bars of his cage reflected back at him. He yelled as the pain overwhelmed him. Helgiron snapped his fingers and the cages began walking on their spider legs.

" _Violet is expandable, but I'd rather have her alive to finally face the gods' justice. As for Crimson, well, pain will have to awaken her eventually. Don't worry, you two will be evacuated once the battle's done. Now if you'll excuse me, I must watch Royilda destroy her family and friends before I then destroy the Ronilda part of her._ " Helgiron walked his merry way out and into the hallway while the cages walked towards the other direction.

"Compared to him, I now label your psychotic godly parasite a saint!" Martin scowled at Ruba.

Her eyes looked at the top of her head and then stared back at him. "She says it's the nicest thing any mortal has ever told her, but unfortunately she doesn't know how to get us out. Our cages are god-proof."


	36. Losing Ronilda

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 36: Losing Ronilda

Helgiron's cages broke a window open and popped outside. All the Lorwardian pods and robots had exploded due to Royilda's overcharge and blue fires were now beginning to spread across the city. The sky was beginning to darken and it took Ruba only five seconds to make out what would happen.

"Ronilda must have overcharged Wardeth's ship when she escaped! It's going to crash on the city!" She said.

"How big is it?" Martin shouted.

"Roughly big enough to wipe out..." Ruba's eyes widened in terror. "Brooklyn."

"Crown Heights is there. The ship will destroy your home."

"I don't have a home! I never did!" Ruba coughed a purple cloud at the bars, only to hit her back. She coughed as badly as someone who got bad lungs from smoking too much.

"Stop! You know we can't use our powers on those cages!"

"And I imagine _you_ have a better idea on how to get us out?"

Martin bit his lips in search of an idea. The light bulb came up and he snapped his fingers. "The bars let the air in... and your powers somewhat link you to air..."

"We can't use our powers against the cages."

"But _you_ can suck in the air! Inhale all that air into your cage and blow it up! Visualize inflating your cage like a balloon you intend to pop."

Ruba looked hesitantly at him. She grabbed the bars of her cage and inhaled multiple times. Trails of purple-colored air strands pulled in through the bars and flew around in the cage. More came in, more the sizes grew inside. Martin saw signs of Ruba's cage actually inflating. The sides stretched so far, it would have made the Beauregarde inflation jealous, until the purple air created a sphere around Ruba that exploded, damaging the cage to the point of breaking. As if it were linked to its twin, Martin's cage broke apart as well and he fell butt first on the floor.

"You'd think he'd provide cushions if he were to imprison the hosts of his own peers!" Martin groaned as he rubbed his butt. Ruba rushed to him and pulled him back up.

"I can't believe you're Crimson's host," she groaned at him. She then chided her space goddess. "Hey, Violet! You could have mentioned previously that Iron... excuse me, _Helgiron,_ was a psychopath!"

" **You'd think that if he weren't a psychopath, I wouldn't have to get reincarnated at every era!** " Violet shouted through Ruba's mouth.

"So Ronilda, Ruba, and Helga Ottoski are not the only hosts? Is it like... an avatar's revival cycle... just because the gods' don't want to accept that mortals don't need them?" Martin asked Violet.

" **It's the whole point of creating colonies. The creators make the colonies, but they don't approve of their creations rebelling against them. I saw mortals differently. The first time we created them, I observed them and I saw that some of them were actually capable of taking care of themselves. They moved from asking the gods for everything to craft their own cities, improve their languages and technologies, and evolve their minds. Since the gods didn't want to listen to me, I became angry. I was labeled the goddess of frustration. The black sheep. The evil one.**

" **So, yes, to answer your question, for many eras, the cycle has repeated: the gods belittle the mortals, I spread my frustration, I get into a fight with the gods, I hurt Crimson...** " Violet sounded rather upset at the mention of Crimson. Either it was just him or Martin thought Violet sounded like she used to be fond of Crimson. " **I get banished to my temple at the base of the Felindrax, the mortal civilization I created. As the other gods shred their essences into shards that were spread across the universe to find a host, I stayed in my temple, watching as my people gathered young girls from other planets, training them under the promise of getting the 'key to their freedom'**."

"So they can become your host and they try to kill Royal once and for all?"

" **Because IRON shows up before they can finish the job! Then all he has to do is literally bribe the hosts into becoming full reincarnations! Now do you understand why Ruba must kill Ronilda?** "

"Isn't there another way?" Martin choked. "I mean, isn't there a way to separate Ronilda from Royal so that _you_ can kill Royal but _I can_ save Ronilda."

Violet sighed through Ruba. " **Fiske, I get you like Royal's host more than anything... but at every cycle, barely any host of Royal and Crimson actually ended up together because they genuinely loved each other or if their gods' relationship influenced theirs. Don't you think that for a moment, the only reason you could have fallen in love with the child of your family's enemies... was because Crimson wanted you to?** "

 _Meanwhile_

Three words: everyone freaked out.

What was a better way for everyone to stop fighting when all the Lorwardian technology exploded and an overly blue Ronilda emerged in the chaos with a series of death wishes coming out of her eyes?

"You escaped?" Wardeth exclaimed. The sound of his spaceship breaking through the Earth's atmosphere alerted him to look up. "You idiot! You might explode a quarter of this city!"

"Like I care." Royilda clenched her hands in tight fists and crystal spikes poked out of the ground, wasting no time to impale Wardeth in every area. The Lorwardian immediately died, along with the legacy of Warmonga and Warhok.

"We hardly knew ye," Diamona bluntly told the corpse.

"Ronilda?" Kim possible choked as he daughter released her fists and the crystal spikes disappeared, dropping the corpse. Royilda just glared at Kim Possible and held her hand out. A blue crystal fist the size of a bus grew from the ground and pulled itself down in an attempt to crush the woman. Ron Stoppable managed to grab his wife and pull her out of the way before the fist ended up causing a massive rubble the size of an earthquake. The couple didn't get a chance to rest. Royilda held out her hands again and geysers exploded in a chain format, spitting lava at the two, who made a run for it. The Simian Witch jumped in and used her magic to shield them from the lava.

"Stop it, Ronilda!" Melgo shouted. "Those are your parents you're attacking!"

"Like I care." Royilda enhanced her lava attack. Roots grew from the ground and cuffed the wrists of Royilda. The humans looked and saw Flora's hands glowing and sweat growing on her forehead.

"Will someone hit her on the head already?" Flora groaned. "It's already a big pain to summon every root in this city to thicken the chains!"

"On it, lassie!" Duff Killigan held out his club to smack Royilda's head with it, but the angry god host just did a flip to both kick Killigan away from her and rip off the roots from the earth, sending Flora flying onto a wall. Diamona rushed to help her comrade get up. Meanwhile, the Simian Witch managed to deflect the lava attack and send it to melt a nearby metro bus.

Royilda got even angrier and held her hands out, yelling. Even larger geysers opened up to spit lava the height of the Empire State Building... Then came a gust of purple wind blowing onto the lava, solidifying it. Everyone on ground level looked up to see Martin and Ruba Kala standing on the top of a building. Ruba was huffing and puffing a good amount of air at Royilda, sending her flying into a metro station staircase two streets away from them.

"Ruba, you missed the show! Stoppable's gone psycho!" Diamona told Ruba as she and Martin came to join them on solid ground. "She impaled Wardeth, she's trying to kill everyone, and Wardeth's ship is going to crash!"  
"I'm aware." Ruba said. "We just ran into Iron."

"Helgiron," Martin corrected. He addressed his mother. "The crone from Netherfield, Helga Ottoski? She's another host of the gods. Iron fully reincarnated in her decades ago. He staged everything just to make sure that Royal fully reincarnates in Ronilda."  
"Oh, so that explains why Ronilda kept saying she saw the crone in weird places!" Gilliard said.

"So where's Iron... I mean, Helgiron?" Flora asked as Diamona helped her get up.

"Somewhere he'd hide for the moment until he gets Stoppable to kill off those he deems as her weaknesses and then he'll damage her so that Royal has no choice but to save her through reincarnation," Ruba said.

"And bring forth another big bang and we all resume from scratch," Diamona groaned. "What's the plan?"

"Keeping the ship from crashing, bringing Stoppable back to her senses, and delaying Helgiron." Ruba listed with her fingers. "This is what I think. Flora, you're the plant expert. Grow some kind of giant trees to keep the ship from crashing. Humans? You can deal with Stoppable."

"I must have misheard." Flora rubbed her ears. "Aren't you supposed to kill Royal's host in the first place?" She blinked and looked shocked as Ruba left the group to climb her way up the buildings. The message then became clear to everyone when they noticed she was going to the direction opposite of Royilda.

"Ruba, you're mad!" Martin shouted.

"You noticed?" She shouted back at him before going out of sight.

 _Later, at Brooklyn_

Flora stood on top of the Hub in Brooklyn with Drakken, Buffy, Killigan, Gilliard, and Gil Moss. The ship now looked like it was ten minutes close to impact.

"You're sure this is going to work?" Drakken asked the alien.

"We had to do it to bring in the rain in my home planet." She knelt down on her knees and sank her fingers through the stones that made the floor. She closed her eyes and spoke in her native language. " _I ask for all the arms of the nature to come to my aid. Bring to me... the Storm Willow!_ "

Her hands glowed green and sent a series of green glowing veins down the Hub and onto the Earth. All of Brooklyn shook as large willow trunks grew to be past the height of the Hub. Higher in the air, the trunks twisted to create one giant willow tree with thousands of thick branches that caught the ship like a baseball in a glove. The branches crushed in the burning debris.

Duff Killigan and Buffy began to swing exploding golf balls at the Storm Willow. The explosions caused the tree to burn like a bonfire and for a cloud covering all of Brooklyn to make it rain. The fire ceased and the ship's debris fell like a series of disintegrating meteors. Luckily, Gill and Gilliard had created a series of muck nets above the streets, preventing any civilians to get hit.

Flora swooned and nearly fainted, ending her task. Drakken caught her before she could fall.

"Sorry if we tried attacking your planet," Flora said.

"Eh. Not the first time aliens tried to." He shrugged.

"Aye. Look at it this way. You gave Brooklyn a new theme park!" Duff Killigan waved his golfing club at the Storm Willow.

 _Meanwhile, at the Statue of Liberty_

Helgiron stood on the platform of the Statue of Liberty's torch. He watched as the Storm Willow prevented Brooklyn from suffering a massive alien explosion. Royilda' blue fires were rising in the city, giving the god a twisted expression of anger and satisfaction.

A trail of purple wind approached Ellis Island and the sound of metal crushing in other metal alerted him to look up. Ruba Kala had landed.

" _Shouldn't you be going off to murder a wild child who hosts the god you are destined to kill?_ " Helgiron almost sounded like the kind school principal who'd drily ask the student if the latter knew why he was sent to his office.

"After what you did?" Ruba clawed her way down the torch. "You knew that when Ronilda blew up the machinery Wardeth had enhanced with her powers, it would have destroyed my old home." She landed on the platform in such a fashion, it almost made the whole statue shake. "Did you expect that by destroying Brooklyn, I'd have gotten so angry, I'd have blamed her for it, I would have lashed out all I had on her, and it would damage her to full reincarnation?"

Helgiron merely shrugged. " _I did say that it's much easier to corrupt a mortal soul traumatized by abandonment in need to prove themselves. Though with you, it's an understatement. You have nothing to prove. You are just the thirteenth girl Violet has chosen to possess._ "

"And I'll be the first to make history." Ruba held out her claws.

Helgiron sneered. " _Well you're certainly the first to think that she can defeat me in a one-on-one fight!_ " Helgiron held out his arms and they shaped out to become two large metal swords. He used one of them to slice once on the torch, the statue lost the flame of its freedom. The god was the first to throw in the attack, expecting to impale Ruba right in the stomach faster than it took one to swat a fly. But Ruba revealed to be faster. She ducked, grabbed the sword and sank her claws in so tightly, the tip of the arm sword broke off.

 _That_ , for one point, startled the god. " _How is this possible? I am the founder of the strongest metal in the universe!_ "

"What, the same metal they put in my bones?" Ruba asked drily. "Apparently, you can't control _your_ metal if it's attached to a great mass of organic tissue. And what do you know, your metal was used to make most of the nanotech of my bionics." She grabbed his arm and swung it before throwing him past Ellis Island. She succeeded in hearing him scream all his way back to the main land and proceeded to jump and follow.

 _A few minutes later_

It was easy for a group to save Brooklyn from an alien nuclear explosion. Heck, for her part, Ruba was kicking butt on Helgiron better than she did with Ronilda, but for the villains and heroes trying to bring Ronilda out of the senile Royilda? Let's just say that right now, Times Square was dealing with massive blue crystals, rubbles, and flames.

"Ronilda, please, you have to listen!" Melgo held out her hands to calm down Royilda, but the host only threw a hand up to hit the earth and send Melgo flying.

"OK, does anyone have any ideas? Seriously?" Motor Ed shouted while he kept Edina hidden behind a car.

"She's sensitive to taser shocks!" Martin sad.

"That's all I had to hear!" Diamona held out her ax. The blade suddenly glowed purple and shot out bolts of energy at Royilda, who was obviously too quick and managed to jump onto a wall. Diamona kept trying to hit her, but then Royilda jumped at Diamona. Ron Stoppable used the Lotus Blade to have the weapon shield Diamona from Royilda.

And that just angered Royilda even more.

"HOW DARE YOU USE MY OWN WEAPON AGAINST ME?" She roared in what sounded like a mix of Ronilda's voice and the voice of the god Royal. She snatched the Lotus Blade from her father's hands and pulled out her own Lily Staff. No one saw it coming. Royilda unleashed a blue aura as she merged the Lotus Blade and Lily Staff together, creating a Crystal Scepter that unleashed a blue thundering storm that covered all of New York.

"Nice, putting the two pieces of the god's divine weapon on the same planet!" Diamona spat. "Start saying your prayers, humans, because we're all going to die!"

Everyone held their ground. Well, everyone except Martin.

"Son, what are you doing?" Monkey Fist exclaimed as Martin walked up to Royilda and fell on his knees when he was only three feet away from her and her dangerous scepter.

"Kill me first," he told her.

Royilda's blue eyes widened in shock.

"I can't do this, Ronilda. When you're like this." Martin shook his head while tears came rolling down his cheeks. "I know, normally we should have been enemies. I don't know what my life would have been if I had never known you, but if we're really supposed to go down this path like this... I just want to give up and die rather than confront you."

That shocked Royilda: she struck the earth with her scepter and the storm she was about to unleash froze. They all stared in shock at the frozen lighting bolts in the sky and how all of a sudden, Martin found Ronilda's hazel eyes coming from Royilda.

"I don't understand... I was doing this for you and me," Royilda told Martin in a heartbroken tone. "Wasn't it your initial dream to take over the world and finish your family's ambition? I'd have given you _the whole universe just for the two of us to rule_!"

"And destroy everything you love just to get to it?" Martin got angry. "Why would you even _think_ I'd do such a monstrous thing?"

Royilda looked horrified at the anger he displayed to her.

"He's not wrong." Diamona joined and knelt on the ground next to Martin. She spoke to Royilda: "Stoppable, you don't know what you are risking to sacrifice. I should know, I've seen it. I've spent most of my life in the planet of the Felindrax, and every year is the same: small girls get kidnapped, trained and turned into mercenaries or assassins, the best of each generation are forced to fight each other... It's the same all the time! Do you know what it's like to watch every sixteen-year-old warrior _every year_ force themselves through hell just to get the 'key to freedom'. Only one girl in a thousand or million years gets the chance to slay Royal in exchange for freedom, the rest can never go back home to their home planets. But since Violet keeps failing at the end of every cycle, _nobody goes home_. Do you really want to lose what you have left of a home?"

Royilda was beginning to have intense levels of deep breaths.

"You have every right to be angry at us. Particularly me," Kim Possible spoke up to her daughter. "When we first had you, you were the most precious thing in our lives." Tears came out of her eyes. "I just wanted you to have a normal childhood, untroubled by my crime-fighting history and you wouldn't have to live in my shadow! But I cracked when we got warnings, I was afraid of you getting or killed or held for ransom! I'm sorry!"

Royilda was biting her lips, hesitating between hating and forgiving her biological mother.

"Just come back, RJ," Melgo said. "You started a life outside your grandma's penthouse like you always wanted. Don't lose it now."

Royilda finally lost it. All of a sudden, her blue physique dissolved to leave a normal Ronilda in her magenta-and-black uniform falling unconscious. The storm disappeared as Martin caught her in his arms. Her hands still clutched onto the divine weapon.

"Is she OK?" Ron Stoppable asked as he and his wife rushed to Martin's side.

"Her pulse is fine, she just got knocked out..." He checked her blood pressure.

"I don't think she'll make it," Diamona said pessimistically. "Where's Helgiron?"

Just around the same time moving vines transported Flora, Dr. Drakken, and the others to their spot, something crashed onto a billboard. Well, the thing was Helgiron. He looked severely injured and him crash-landing onto a lamppost and then a newspaper stand did not help. Ruba Kala, for her part, landed on top of a police cruiser perfectly. She looked like she was in good shape, compared to how she had it rough during her fights with Ronilda.

" _You... INSECT!_ " Helgiron spat some colorless fluid out of his mouth. Probably blood.

"Tired already? C'mon! I almost broke you with the equivalent of a broken spine!" Ruba spat at him.

" _You're barely at my level!_ " Helgiron spat. " _I'm a fully reincarnated god compared to your status as near-third-strike! I easily killed your predecessors when they were at your level! I've carried the wisdom for milleniums that has helped me keep Royal and the other gods under my finger while you're barely a child!_ "

"Technically, I'm almost twenty. I'm four-years-past what most aliens see as 'the age of majority'."

This seemed to have startled Helgiron. The metal on his robe shook.

"Ooh, I hit a nerve, didn't I?" Ruba chuckled and placed her hands on her hips. "See, the thing with you is that you're always used to reincarnating in emotionally-weak hosts, preferably adults, and then it gets easier to either get Royal-in-adult-host to finish Violet's hosts off or doing the deed yourself? I get it, why not? After all, Violet's chosen ones are always picked when they're sixteen, normally it would have been easy for you?"

" _As if!_ " Helgiron spat as he got up. " _The second-oldest after you was nineteen when I decapitated her!_ "

"Did she break a tooth out of you? I just made you go through a world of pain and it's not even 2'o clock!" Ruba taunted before throwing an unexpected blast of purple gas at Helgiron, knocking him to the wall. She then scowled viciously. "I'm not like my predecessors, Helgiron! I've trained my whole life since I was six for the promise of my 'key to freedom'! My Felindrax coaches at the base purposely made sure that as the best of their pupils, I got the triple of their formation pulled out of Hell! I had claws made out of _your_ own metal, I used it to slay the dragons of Chasmia! I was made a hound that tracked down three-quarters of the universe's worst criminals who know rot in prison, hoping they can stain the floors with my blood!" Helgiron looked like he was getting scared. "They called me Ruba Kala, the host of the Violet Death! The Child From The Nine Stars! The Scourge of Forty Planets' Demons! My pressures help me control my own frustrations, not even the goddess Violet can properly tame me the way you and Royal control your hosts! I'll do my job to the end, even if it means that I must rip off every single metal off your hide to do it!"

Out of nowhere, Ruba began coughing out a small purple puff of cloud, though honestly, the mist looked more like blood going through a formation. Said formation glowed and popped... into what could have been a chibi female the size of a garden gnome. The female had purple hair moving like mist, some kind of dress made of countless jewels, bones, and molecules, and twelve arms waving pom-poms.

" **Go Ruba! Go Ruba!** " The thing cheered with Violet's voice.

"WHAT?" Everyone exclaimed.

"Uh... OK, I did NOT know she could do that!" Ruba pointed an accusing finger at Violet's odd manifestation. "What the heck are you doing?"

" **Manifesting out of your body. Relax, my essence is still swimming in your blood cells. At least now I won't have to scream my words out of your mouth constantly just to talk to you.** "

"And you decided to do this _now_?" Ruba glared at Violet.

Meanwhile, Ronilda groaned as she batted her eyes open. "What happened?" She asked.

Helgiron, who was back on his feet, Ruba and Violet stared at the awakened Ronilda.

"Oh snap," Drakken said.

Helgiron stroke first, bearing out his hands as if to maul Ronilda. Just as Martin pulled Ronilda out of the way, Ron Stoppable and the Simian Witch got in to use their powers to block him with a shield.

" **What are you waiting for?** " Violet told Ruba. " **She's helpless! Kill her now!** "

"But what if I do it right now and Helgiron sees an opportunity to turn her into Royal for good? You know it will be the end of the universe... again."

" **Ugh. You got a point.** "

Helgiron slapped Ron Stoppable and the Simian Witch out of the way.

" **I have an idea. But it's not pretty.** "

Violet's manifestation went back inside Ruba. Her eyes glowed purple, her hands formed a triangle. Suddenly, the sky's clouds got shades of purple and a vortex appeared in the air. Ronilda's blue aura showed itself as some kind of force pulled her away from Martin and began dragging her to the sky.

"Ronilda!" Kim Possible grabbed her daughter by the arm when the latter began to float off the ground. Her husband tried to help her pull Ronilda back, but it proved too much.

" _Don't you dare!_ " Helgiron tried to attack Ruba, but a purple dome was protecting her from him.

"What is she doing?" Monkey Fist shouted.

"Ruba's using a god's last resort incantation!" Diamona shouted over the chaos. "She's banishing Ronilda far from Earth!"

Ronilda's parents lost their hold of her. Martin climbed six stories up and grabbed her hand. His spare one had dug his nails on the wall for support, but the vortex was proving too much.

"You're not going! Not again!" He shook his head.

Ronilda looked at the damage on the city one last time. She then stared at Martin.

"Come on, Ronilda!" He begged.

"Martin..." She looked at him. "I... I can't do this anymore."

She let go of him and let herself get swallowed by the vortex.

Her name was the last thing Martin shouted as the vortex disappeared and the sky turned back to normal.


	37. How To Find Her Lost In The Stars

RJ and Martin:

Chapter 37: How To Find Her Lost In The Stars

The incantation had worn out Ruba, she fainted on the ground. Diamona and Flora immediately rushed to her. The humans looked devastated.

Ronilda had just been dragged to outer space. Again.

Martin looked like he was beyond heartbroken and angry. He smashed the earth with an angry fist, creating a body-sized crater. His eyes darted angrily from Kim Possible to Ron Stoppable to Ruba and finally to Helgiron.

"You did this," Martin got up angrily and confronted the god. Unlike with Ruba, Helgiron was not impressed with Martin and used only one hand to trap Martin's neck and lift him off the ground.

" _You think this will change anything?_ " Helgiron scoffed bitterly. " _Whether I or Ruba Kala do our job or if your precious lover lands in some toxic virgin planet, only one thing's guaranteed. Ronilda Stoppable will die._ _But I'm starting to re-question myself on your purpose. Maybe Crimson's better off never reincarnated._ "

His grip tightened on Martin's throat. The latter began to gasp for air like a fish out of water.

Helgiron then dropped Martin when a gasp escaped his lips. At one point when the vortex had dragged Ronilda, she dropped Royal's scepter, and her father managed to get a hold of it. He used the same scepter to sneak behind Helgiron and stab him from the back.

"That was for my daughter, you moron!" Ron Stoppable shouted as he forced the blade out of the god.

Helgiron held onto his chest and let out a scream that sounded impossible to define. He shot one murderous glare at all of them before blasting himself into the sky.

To Martin, the god fleeing looked like a reversed shooting start before he finally passed out.

...

He felt something tapping onto his neck. It almost reminded him of the time when he fell off a tree when he was six and cried. Kronos had used medical mud to soothe down his pain.

Martin fluttered his eyes open. He saw himself in what he recognized as a GJ clinic (probably a backup one since the previous one was damaged), but he freaked out when he saw that a _human_ medic wasn't tending him.

"Relax," the alien held out his hand calmly. "Your planet's primitive organization made a truce with our surveillance squad." His sand-colored fingers dug into some kind of gel in a pot and tapped it on his neck.

"What the heck are you?" Martin asked.

"A half-cured Felindrax," the alien looked at Martin with his golden eyes crowned by pupils that resembled those of a cat. It helped Martin understand the 'feline' part of Felindrax, but he couldn't understand why scales covered his neck like some kind of neck-sized choker necklace.

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking." The alien finished his job of providing gel on Martin's bruises. "Why the heck would a Felindrax help you after the way Ruba told you that we're complete monsters? Here's your answer: the Felindrax she hates are from the base she was trained at. Completely different from the ones she lives and works with." He held out his hand to the nearby faucet. Water slithered out of it and solidified itself into a glass full of drinking water. "I'm Dousus, by the way."

He gave the glass to Martin, who reluctantly accepted it. "How long was I out?" Martin asked as he took some sips.

"Twelve hours," Dousus said. "I'm amazed by how primitive you humans have such time-taking medicine. The moment we arrived and the human medics put you in bed, all I had to do was put healing gel on your bruises and let you sleep with them before I had to put more on you."

"And the others? My parents? My friends?"

"Yeah, they're OK." Dousus used his telekinetic powers to soak a towel and cleaned Martin's neck with it. "Your girlfriend, the host of Royal? We're clueless. Ruba did the thing that none of her predecessors ever did. She took on the god of age as if he were a mere pup and used a forbidden incantation to keep Royal away from Iron. I'm telling you, when she goes back to the Felindrax planet, they'll be giving her a hero's welcome."

Martin gave Dousus a bitter expression.

"What?" Dousus frowned. "Weren't you told that dating another god's host was a bad idea?"

"Normally the problem is that I love the offspring of my parents' enemies, I didn't care what anyone thought, and now I might never see her again."

"Well of course you won't. Well, not as her usual mortal self. Either she fully reincarnates or Ruba slays her. Either the universe explodes into another cycle or Ruba saves all mortals from the gods' leashes." Dousus scratched his neck. "And the Felindrax will all be fully-cured. No more foreigners to add up the population and army, no more choosing ceremonies... No offense, but I really hope Ruba slays your girlfriend. I don't intend on spending my whole life in the Felindrax planet."

Martin frowned as he sat up. "We're you kidnapped?"

"No, I was born on the planet." Dousus shook his head. "Did the girls tell you about how it works with the choosing ceremony?"

Martin thought back to what Diamona had said when they all tried to speak reason to Royilda. _Only one girl in a thousand or million years gets the chance to slay Royal in exchange for freedom, the rest can never go back home to their home planets._ "What exactly happened to the female population of the Felindrax?"

"Long story short, Iron decided to add further punishment to Violet standing up for mortals by unleashing the Curse Plague on the Felindrax, the only mortal civilization she created. The women perished and the men were stuck in what I can best say as 'ill-conditions'," Dousus explained. "They started kidnapping females from other planets since they didn't have a lot of healthy individuals to protect them or to breed. It worked for getting sons, but getting biological daughters? Let's just say that after genetic engineering, only fully-cured Felindrax can have daughters."

"Very much like the first Romans kidnapping the Sabines," Martin commented. "But how exactly are you a 'half-cured' Felindrax?"

"When none of the female warriors are chosen to become the host of Violet, they get arranged to marry the male Felindrax, judging based on personality and how the female's particular metabolism can give her husband a cured child. Take my mother, she was from Oasia. She got paired with a third-cured Felindrax, and they had me. Most likely, if future arrangements are done well, I might have a fully-cured son who will have fully-cured sons and daughters. Only the fully-cured can take up mandatory positions like military or government. Half-cured like me have the choice of military or science. The third-cured are stuck with science or lower careers."

"So you chose healing."

"I grew an interest in herbal and mineral bacteria cleansing since I was little," Dousus smirked a little. "Problem is, since my mother failed the choosing ceremony, she and I can never put our feet in Oasia."

"That's unfair. And only Ruba gets the privilege of putting her foot on Earth?"

"Her job's not done. Since she hasn't killed your girlfriend yet, she has to leave Earth in a few days."

 _..._

The GJ base they were in was roughly near the Grand Canyon. While everyone was dealing with their own problems, Ruba had snuck out so that she could sit cross-legged on a hill and watch the majestic canyon as the sun set past the horizon.

"Is this spot taken?" A voice asked behind her.

"Unless you're here to kill me, help yourself," Ruba said drily.

Kim Possible sat down next to her. "This place brings me back weird memories of how Drakken had a mind-switching machine hidden here..."

"And you switched bodies with your husband, I know," Ruba rolled her eyes. "You think I missed a fail spot when I did my research on you?" She pulled out a bottle and proceeded to drink. She let a hiccup escape her mouth. "My job was supposed to be easy: kill the host of Royal, get my life back." She took another sip. "Killing a child hosting Royal should have been easier than slicing cake." She took another sip. "Thanks to you, she's suicidal and she made my job harder." When she got no more drops from her bottle, she threw the bottle towards the canyon's direction. After hearing it crash and break, she pulled out another bottle and proceeded to more drinking. "You ever heard of a thing called limos, bodyguards, or insane boarding schools?" More hiccups. "Would have been better than the Rapunzel treatment."

Kim Possible sighed. "I guess that I could never realize that no matter what, I would never be able to give her a normal life."

Ruba scoffed. "There's no such thing as a normal life. I should know, I spent fourteen years of my life in outer space. I'm seen so many places, I get drunk just to make sure that I remain sane."

"I'm guessing they let you drink before majority in outer space?"

"Nah. Turning sixteen is considered becoming an adult in other planets." Ruba tossed away her bottle back at the canyon and got up. "Probably high time I go join the others."

...

No one could describe the beyond awkwardness in the meeting between the humans and the aliens. The first group couldn't figure out what to feel since the second group talked the most and pretty much acted like their opinions were, well, more evolved than the humans.

"First part is speaking with the Felindrax council," Dousus said. "It's inevitable."

"What is there to talk about?" Ruba tapped her nails on the table. "We find the girl, I kill her. I retire and end of story."

"What makes you think you can decide to kill her?" Ron Stoppable snapped. Ruba retorted by throwing one of her bottles at him. He caught it before it could hit his face.

"I'll have you know that my freedom is on the line here!" She stiffened on the chair. "Worse case scenarios. A, Iron gets to her before I do, I die, we all die, and the universe makes a boom for a new cycle of evolution. B, and I dread this, the Felindrax or Violet decide to replace me. And believe me, I know a lot of girls on the planet who'd kill hundreds of throats for the chance of replacing me and getting their ticket to freedom. Next time you want to have kids, make sure they don't inherit your powers!"

"Wait, they could actually replace you?" The Simian Witch frowned.

"It's an unused alternative," Flora shrugged.

"But what do we do about him?" One of the Felindrax pointed at Martin. "He's Crimson's host."

"She's harmless at the moment," Ruba said drily.

"Look." Martin raised his hands in defense. "We never asked to become hosts, but I am wondering if maybe we can come up with a kind of alternative. I was thinking... isn't there a way of somehow extracting Royal out of Ronilda? That way, you could still kill him, but at the same time, we don't kill Ronilda?"

The Felindrax looked at each other with mixed expressions.

"Could work."

"Maybe..."

"I don't know..."

"It's a loophole..."

"I only heard once that one of the gods managed to change hosts when her initial host gave her problems," Diamona said. "But I don't know how she did it."

Ruba looked above her, expecting her deity to show up. "Oh sure," she muttered, "even you can't tell me if it's possible!"

"You really think you can ask her?" Dousus pointed out. "I mean, if she had an answer for you, don't you think you'd be using the extraction process on yourself?"

"Oh, yeah. That's a good point." Ruba pulled out a bottle. "I don't care _how_ it's done, but Royal's gonna be dead, end of story. Got it?"

The aliens nodded in agreement. The humans were, well, still in an uneasy level. They understood the threats that were at hand, but they knew that the aliens cared less if two among the humans lost their daughter after barely reuniting with her. They began taking names on who would join in on the adventure to find Ronilda Stoppable as she was lost in space. Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, and the Fiskes were obviously coming. The next ones on the list were Drakken, Shego, Melgo, Gilliard, Killigan, Buffy, Motor Ed, Edina, Will Du, Camillo, and the most unexpected on the list, since she wasn't present at the meeting (and frankly, they hadn't seen her lately)...

"Why is Amy Hall coming?" The Simian Witch asked.

"That's Ruba's fault," Dousus said flatly.

"How is everything my fault?" She gasped at him.

"That vortex you opened up in New York? It created a baby on the other side of the states. It sucked in her daughter."

"That's not possible, Dousus!" Ruba stood up on her chair. "The incantation I used physically drags the godly host of my choosing, and I specifically dragged Stoppable."

Dousus just looked indifferent as he pulled out a pad and released a 3D-holographic footage. It showed RJ with Amelia in the latter's room, both gagging over the ginger snaps.

" _I haven't tasted so much sugar in my life!_ " RJ gagged.

" _Believe me, as a generally sweet person, even that's too much for me!_ " Amelia agreed.

"This must have been around the time RJ used Amelia to get me on a wild goose chase." Martin grimaced at the memory.

In the footage, the girls quickly recovered from their gagging and Amelia noticed that RJ was forcing herself to smile in order to hide that she was growing doubts. " _What's on your mind?_ "

" _Nothing..._ " RJ shrugged in the footage but then hesitated. " _You and your mom are genetists, right?_ "

" _My mom was until she got me out of the incubation machine._ " RJ stared blankly at her. " _What? Have you seen her? She passed the age of labor, so she manipulated her genetics with God knows what to create a baby._ "

" _Right._ " RJ sounded rather disgusted. " _How much do you know about... unusual body reactions that make you... I don't know, hallucinate or destroy stuff?_ "

" _Like parasitical influences or genetic disorders?_ " Amelia asked. " _I could take some samples of your DNA to study it._ "

"I don't need to know further!" Ruba held out her hand. "Let me guess, she took a DNA sample, left it on some desk to study it later, and right when I opened the vortex, she accidentally spilled the sample on herself and the vortex dragged her in because of it?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Dousus turned off the footage. Ruba groaned in frustration.

Martin ignored the others' bickering and went to the nearest window. Through its glass, he could see the blue sky, knowing that above on the other side stood outer space.

"Don't worry Ronilda. I'll find you."

THE END

 _Coming soon, the sequel to RJ AND MARTIN and the last story of my trilogy_

 _RUBY AND MARTIN_

 _Quick view: She was chosen by the goddess of frustration to slay Ronilda Stoppable. He was supposed to hate Ronilda, but he couldn't. Both must work together to save Ronilda and the universe, yet their differences bring them together._


End file.
